Melody of Time
by KellyTarzuoty
Summary: My name is Harmony Kakureta Merodi, and to say it simply; my life is screwed up. Just a couple of days ago I was on my way to fight in the war with my teammates/friends, but today, I'm some how a genin again, with a different squad. Also, my childhood friend is now 13 years older than me now! Fate must hate me or really love messing with my mind. God help me.
1. Prolouge

_I don't own Naruto._

Prologue

Where should I start?

The beginning? Well, in the beginning, starts with a fire-red haired girl crying in a puddle of her older brothers and grandfathers blood.

The beginning starts with her learning that because of the blood that ran through her veins, the same one that was spilling out of the two corpses, and mostly likely her parents as well in some distant land, had made her a target.

The beginning starts with bloody nightmare-filled and sleepless nights, staring up at the moon and stars, trying to draw enough strength from them to get up the next day.

The beginning starts with her trying to grow up alone, trying to get stronger with only one person on her side.

How about the middle? The middle is about that same girl, now growing up learning to trust people, and learning that family can be by blood and bonds.

The middle is about her learning how to not only to protect herself but the people who she cares deeply for.

The middle is about her learning what a one sided love is about and about ignored jealousy.

The middle is about her learning the cruelties of war.

The middle is about her figuring out that a childish rivalry within a team could almost ruin everything.

Now, the ending? The ending is about her seeing the people she loved and cared about try to run to her before she gets crushed under a tonne of rocks after she gets nearly rescued.

Now, what would you say if that was only part of my story? That I had a whole nothing beginning, middle, and end? And that it was soon going to start off?

My name is Harmony Kakureta Merodi. The small girl who had to grow up with her most precious things being stolen from her, only to regain it in a different form during a cruel and blood-filled world that came with being a skilled shinobi.

This is my story.

Would you like to hear what happens next?


	2. Chapter 1

**_I don't own Naruto._**

* * *

May 22nd

_Well, it's official. As of today, Kakashi Hatake will be a jounin, leading squads in missions, just like Minato-sensei. I would say that I am surprised that he advanced so quickly, but I'm not really. He's always been good at everything, even if he can be such a bastard at times._

_... Okay, maybe that was a little uncalled for. It's just that the fact that my Little Fang is now my superior bugs me a little... Okay, it bugs me a lot. But in all honesty, he deserves to be a jounin. He earned it. I'll just have to train extra hard to catch up to him._

_On a lighter note, my thirteenth birthday is coming up! I'll finally be the same age as Obito! No longer will he be able to pull the 'You're younger than me, so I have to protect you,' thing. It annoys the crap out of me, especially when half of the time it's me and Rin saving his poor ass from getting killed._

_Speaking of a certain Uchiha looks like he's going to be late again. I think for his next birthday I think I'm going to get an extra loud, extra annoying, alarm clock._

_I've also had this really nagging feeling in my chest for the past little bit. Actually, it's been longer than a little bit. I've had this feeling for over a year I think. I didn't want to write anything about it until I was sure, and I'm still not. All I know that it grows till it almost burns inside me when Kakashi is alone, or when he smiles... Or when I see some girl gives him a present, her face flushed. The latter is when it hurts the most especially after he accepts the 'presents'. I really hope I'm not fallin-_

"Harmony, you're writing in that old journal again? I wouldn't be surprised if it fell apart one day," I snapped my journal in fright when I heard Rin talk. I looked over my shoulder and through my fire red hair that was covering my left eye and saw her leaning over me, trying to get a glance at what I was writing.

"Hey! What's with closing it all of a sudden? Writing something you don't want anyone else to see?" She asked with a good-natured smile as she straightened up, holding a hand out to help me up. I scowled at her playfully before I grabbed her hand, letting her pull me up.

"Like I would ever tell you Rin. That's the point of journals. They are meant to keep the writers secrets a secret," I told her, punching her lightly in the arm. "Besides, you're the person that got me to start writing in this thing again. I think your exact word where 'It'll be a way to let out all the emotions that you keep bottled up in yourself.'."

Rin gave a small giggle when I said that," Ya, but I didn't mean get lost in your own little word every time you write in it. We both know how complex your mind is, and how easy it is for you to get lost in it."

"What will we do if you get lost in your maze during a mission? Not only would it jeopardize the mission, but everyone on the squad if you're not paying attention to what's going on?" A young, cold emotionless voice asked, making both Rin and I turn around to face the owner of the voice. I smirked when Rin stuck her tongue out at him, even if the feeling in my chest got warm again. I quickly brushed it off as nothing before walking over to the boy; swing my arm over his shoulders.

"Oh lighten up, Little Fang," I told him as I placed my arm on his shoulder, just to get a reaction out of him. Which he did, a cold dark glare, which I responded with a cheeky smile before I swatted the back of his gravity-defying grey hair with my hand, making me having to quickly duck, barely avoiding a well-timed punch from him.

"Harmony, don't instigate a fight with Kakashi," Minato said as he watched us, I crouched on the ground and Kakashi following his punch with a low kick, trying to knock me down. I leapt up and used Kakashi's shoulders as a catapult as I flipped over him, landing on the other side.

"Fiiiine," I dragged out when I landed, stepping away from Kakashi when he turned around slowly, no longer trying to hit me while I flipped my waist long hair over my shoulder so it hung down my back and my side bangs so they didn't cover my face as much.

"By the way Sensei. Where's Obito? I thought he would have been here by now?" I heard Rin ask Minato-sensei.

"Rin, you should really know by now that Obito will always be late. And he should be here in 3... 2...1." I counted down, timing it almost perfectly with the happy-go-lucky Uchiha who just crashed harshly onto the ground, right by Kakashi's feet, covered in dirt and god knows what else.

"Did I just make it in time?" Obito asked, trying to make it seem like he wasn't panting

"Nope, because you're late! Obito!" Kakashi said with a disappointing look and his arms crossed. Though you could only really tell that he was disappointed by his voice and eyes, seeing as the bottom half of his face was covered with a dark blue mask. "You idiot! What time did you thing we were meeting?! If you're a full-fledged shinobi, you should naturally follow the rules and regulations strictly!" Kakashi chastised Obito as Obito slowly got up.

"No... On the way, I had to show the way to an old woman carrying luggage... Plus, there was something in my eye..."

"What? That's a lie!" Kakashi yelled.

"Hey! Don't talk like that, Kakashi!" Obito yelled back, now sitting cross-legged on the ground.

"Oh stop lying Obito. I love you and all, and you're a great friend, but we all know that's is not why your la-"

"Don't say that Harmony," Minato-sensei cut me off in a gentle tone," you went with the old lady, didn't you Obito?"

"I carried her luggage too!" Obito exclaimed as he rummaged through his bag, pulling out a small container, and took his large orange goggles off, squishing the liquid through the eye dropper attached to his 'irritated eyes'.

"... You're a real pushover. You should be getting angry at Obito. Every single time. Those ninjas who don't follow the rules and regulations are called trash! That's how it is." Kakashi now chastises Minato-sensei.

"...Hahaha," Minato-sensei laughed unsurely, a small bead of sweat running down the side of his face. I had to stop myself from hitting Kakashi in the back of the head again, only this time, a little harder.

"Have you no kindness in you?! It's always about the rules! The regulations! Just shut up!" Obito said as he rubbed his eyes. "The key point is your own self-control."

"Hey, hey. Don't you two ever stop? You're on the same team, aren't you?" Rin said, trying calm down the two boys. I just sighed and shook my head in defeat. _'There's no way to stop them, they're like fire and ice, total opposites that can never see eye-to-eye.'_

"Rin, you're too easy-going towards Obito... This is a very important day for me"

"Yeah... Yeah, it is..." Rin said, now not sure what to say.

"What was it again?" Obito asked, making me question his brain functioning again.

"Let's get going. If we want to reach our destination we have to leave now," Kakashi said as he turned around and began to walk, Minato-sensei and Rin diligently following.

"Geez Obito. Did you knock out a few brain cells when you hit the ground?" I asked him with a small laugh as I walked towards him and held out a hand, just like how Rin had done for me. Obito gave me a wide smile as he grabbed my hand, understanding my joke.

"Nope! Though I wonder if you have any let, seeing as you hang out with Mr. Rules-come-first." I smirked and pulled him up.

"Har-har. Very funny Mr. I-can't-be-on-time-to-save-my-life. Now let's go before we fall too far behind." Obito nodded and began to jog lightly, seeing as they three had gotten so far ahead. I jogged alongside him, my hair swishing back and forth behind me.

"Hey, Harmony. Why do you hang out with Kakashi? All he does is glares and scolds," Obito questioned as we jogged. I gave a small smile, feeling my cheeks heat up slightly, but I fought it and pushed the heat down.

"That's not all he does. I've known him ever since we were kids, so why wouldn't I hang out with him? He just really likes to scold you." Obito grumbled a bit under his breath after I said this, making me laugh.

"Well... Today is Kakashi inaugurated as a jounin, just like me. To make missions efficient, I and his team will be split, since the military power of Konoha has hit an all-time low." Minato-sensei explained as the five of us walked through the countryside.

"Split. Then..." Obito said confused, walking behind our sensei.

"Yeah! That's right. Kakashi will become the captain of your four-man squad. And I'll be on my own."

"I told you about it before Obito, to get Kakashi a present," Rin said as she walked beside me, both of us in front of Minato-sensei and Kakashi a little ahead of us. I wasn't really paying attention to what was going on because the air around us was so calm and soothing that I couldn't help but pull out my emerald green flute that my mother had given to me as a child and play a soft tone. It was supposedly a clan heirloom and had once been played by one of the founders of my clan. After I had stopped playing, deep in thought about my clan I ran a finger over one end on the flute, closer to the mouthpiece, where a single crescent moon with three lines running through it and two stars connecting to the lines carved into it. The symbol of my clan.

_'And now they are all dead... Just because they still feared the 'illness' that is in my blood.'_ Sardonic thoughts ran through my mind as we walked, making me want to just close my eyes and forget all that was around me.


	3. Chapter 2

**_I don't own Naruto._**

* * *

I felt a hand be placed onto one of my shoulders, making me jump and efficiently snapping my out of my depressing thoughts. I turned and saw that it was Rin that had placed her hand, her face full of worry, but she was trying to cover it with a small smile.

"You okay Harmony? You looked like you were lost in that maze of yours again," She said as she kept her hand in contact. I nodded my head and gave her a closed eye smile.

"Yeah, sorry. I guess I really got to get a handle on that, don't I?" I told her, and it must have been enough to reassure her, because she removed her hand, nodding her head as well.

"Like I said, it could endanger the mission if you keep on doing that Harmony," Kakashi said from beside. I hadn't noticed that he had walked up to us. He was holding one of Minato-senseis special sealed kunai and a small medical pack in one hand, the other extended towards me. I blinked at it for a few times, confused as to why.

"Ummmmm... Do you want a high-five or something..?" I asked him slowly, only to received a very blank look.

"Ahaha, geez Harmony. Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that head of yours sometimes if you can forget such an important thing." Minato-sensei laughed, making my face flush slightly from embarrassment. I looked back at Kakashi and the things he was holding, putting two and two together.

_'Right! His present!' _I gave a nervous laugh as I took off my pack and dug in the side pocket, taking out a simple black threaded necklace with what looked like a slightly aged wolf fang hanging in the middle.

"Here you go Fang," I said, handing it to him, "the pendant on the necklace has some chakra in it, so if you're in a bind, you can use what's stored in here. It's not a lot, but it should be enough to help you escape or to stop you from passing out."

"Thank you very much Harmony," Kakashi said, taking to necklace, putting it on, and hiding it underneath his clothes. Lastly, he turned to Obito, hand outstretched just like he did to me.

"Wha. What's with the hand?!" Obito yelled at him, "I didn't do anything for you! Absolutely nothing!"

"That's fine... Make yourself useful... Carry my stuff for me." Kakashi told him in a bored tone. I bit my lips to help contain my laughter when I saw Obito's left eye twitch, his tell-tale sign before he explodes.

"IT'S A MYSTERY HOW YOU EVER BECAME A JOUNIN!"

"I don't want to talk to you about it," Kakashi replied, brushing him off. I watched as Obito was visibly _shaking_ now.

'_Maybe I should try calming him down... Don't want to have someone get murdered now.'_ I thought to myself as I took a step towards Obito, a hand up in a 'calm down' way.

"Okay, Obito. I know Kakashi is a huge ass, but I think you need to take a deep brea-"

"I AM OBITO UCHIHA OF THE UCHIHA CLAN! AND I WILL SURPASS YOU! AS SOON AS I AWAKEN THIS SHARINGAN!"

_'And I think he just took a dive into the deep end... Well, it's never a dull day here on this squad, now is it?'_ I said to myself with a sigh. _'And here's why...'_

"The Uchiha clan are all elite shinobis, aren't they..?" Kakashi questioned, "that's what I thought, but I guess they expected too much from you when entrusting you with a title like that."

"Whaaat?!" Obito growled at him, holding up a fist, looking ready to fight as I introduced my palm to my face. _'And there it is... Now, cue Rin, the peacemaker here.'_

"You guys quit it!" Rin scowled as he walked in between the two. I lifted my head from my hand and sent Kakashi a disapproving look.

"And I think that's more directed at you, dumb dog. You didn't need to go that far and be that hard on him and his clan. They are the top enforcers of our village, so you shouldn't be taking them too lightly," I then turned to Obito, who paled," and you Obito need to stop complaining. It's your own fault that you forgot to even remember what today was, so carrying luggage isn't that bad, and you're the one that made this into an argument anyhow."

"HYPOCRITE! You forgot to Harmony!" Obito yelled, pointing a finger at him, which I lightly pushed aside.

"I momentarily forgot. Not entirely. I still had something prepared."

"Heeey... Can I explain the mission now? We're almost at the country border," Minato-sensei interrupted, gathering all of our attentions. The four of us looked at each other before looking back at him, all slowly nodding our heads.

"Okay then, then let us get going," He said as he began to walk again, the rest of us in tow.

"Still think you're a hypocrite, Harmony-chan," Obito teased under his breath as we walked side by side. I elbowed in the stomach for placing the -chan to the end of my name before grabbing a hair elastic from the wrist.

"Shut it pink eyes," I whispered back as I tied my long hair back into a ponytail, leaving only some of my side bangs loose to hang freely.

"Alright? it's this line." Minato pointed to a certain line on the map he had sped out on a large flat rock by the border. "Currently, the Earth Country is invading the Kusagakure*. That's this line. Of course, the enemy is Iwa-Shinobis*... We have information that there's already about a thousand shinobis at the enemy's front line. If they continue advancing like this..."

"They're advancing a lot faster than before..." I muttered out loud, surveying the map in front of us.

"Although the Fire country also borders the Kusagakure, if we wait too long, it's too late," Kakashi pointed out after Minato-sensei had stopped thinking out loud.

"Looking at this advance... Their rear support should be smooth too, shouldn't it?" Rin questioned, absorbing all the information we were receiving. Minato-sensei nodded before pointing to a certain point on the map, near to the line he had pointed to before.

"Our current miss is here, Kannabi Bridge. We'd need a lot of shinobis to hit the enemy's front line. Because of that. a few selected shinobi must go and sabotage them."

"The bridge... So this is a stealth mission?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes! Team Kakashi, your mission is to sneak in behind the enemy and destroy that bridge that they need to receive supplies. Then withdraw quickly."

"OKAY!" We all replied in sync.

"What about you Sensei?" Obito asked.

"I will engage the front line directly. To divert them away from you," He told us, before holding a hand out to us. "Right, this is Kakashi's first time as captain. We'll go together to the border, but from the on, the mission begins!"

"OKAY!" We all replied in sync again, each placing a hand on top of Minato-sensei's hand

_'I don't think I'll ever get use to this forest. There're just some things about walking next to giant mushrooms growing out even larger trees that just freaks me out. Maybe because it seems so unnatural but no one questions it. Hell, I don't really even question it, just find it creepy...But then again, fighting against a guy who can easily swing a sword that's near twice his height with ease is pretty creepy too. Thank god I survived that one though, but one thing is for sure, I definitely don't want to go up against him ever aga- What the?!'_ I exclaimed in my mind when I nearly ran into Rin's back because she had stopped suddenly to avoid from running into Kakashi, who was in the lead. I sent the back of his head a WTF look for stopping without a warning until I noticed how tense he was now, that and he had a hand slightly out as a warning, which I hadn't noticed because of my mind rambling.

_'I really got to get a handle on that...' _I thought to myself before I took a breath and closed my eyes, concentrating my chakra and to calm myself down, now aware of what he had sensed. I opened one eye and cock my head to the side, listening carefully. _'He's alone... For now. Any moment he could call for backup... Wait, no, there's more now!' _I realized as I slowly crouched down behind one of the giant trees roots with the rest of my squad.

"Tsk... There's a lot here, nearly surrounding us. Can't pinpoint how many, though...' I whispered to them.

"There's around twenty Harmony. Possibly shadow clones..." Minato-sensei said from beside Kakashi. I nodded my head, both eyes closed again.

'_That would make sense. Just a few seconds before he was making only enough sound to be one person, but the amount of noise suddenly spiked. Damn, sometimes that jutsu is a real pain in the ass, it's going to be real hard finding the real among the fakes.'_

"It looks like it... Sensei, I'll head in, Please cover me," I opened both eyes and looked at him in surprise, was he an _idiot_?

"Don't be hasty. Kakashi, you should be the backup." Minato-sensei explained to him, but the Kakashi I knew was too stubborn to let something like this down.

"Sensei, I'm the captain today, right?! This is an excellent time to try out my new jutsu!" A burst of cracking blue light materialized in his right hand, giving off the sound of chirping and crying birds. _'That must be the 'thing' Fang has been working on for the longest time and wouldn't tell me! Though I can see why... It's a lightning based attack, and that would seriously hurt me if I even got grazed with it...'_

"Chidori!" Kakashi yelled out; ready to sprint off, but Minato-sensei put a hand out in front of him as a silent order to stay still.

"Even if there's a lot of enemies, this jutsu can do it in an instant. It's the same as your nickname... Besides, today, I'm the captain. It's a rule that everyone on a squad follows the captain's instructions, isn't it sensei?!"

'_Damn, he pulled the 'captain' card,'_ I swore in my mind as I watched Sensei pull back his hand and as Kakashi slammed his into the tree root, making it nearly exploded.

Rin, who was the closest besides Minato-sensei, had to cover her face to protect herself from sharps shards of wood flying to her. I watched as Kakashi ran at a near-impossible speed, destruction his dust trail.

"You're an idiot Kakashi. You don't just run straight in. Baka," I said out loud for everyone to hear, shaking my head, but keeping my eyes on where he was, or at least tried to. It was slightly easier to track him that way because the sound his 'Chidori' made was too loud and rebounded off everything, making it impossible for me.

_Chink! Chink!_

_'What?' _I searched where I heard the sound of metal hitting metal and saw a couple of kunai fall to the ground. I looked over to Sensei and saw that he was still in the pose from throwing the kunais, saving Kakashi, and then throwing one more, exactly pinpointing where the enemy is. _'Damn, didn't see them in time. Gotta work on that...'_ I scolded myself as I watched the small puff of smoke, the tell-tale sign a shadow clone was defeated, dissipate.

"What the-," Obito, who I was next too, suddenly called out. Before I know what I was doing I whipped out my flute and snapped it apart, revealing the two blades that were hidden in the body, and slicing the clone that looked like it was emerging from the ground. When I got a close look on his face before he turned into smoke a thought ran through my mind. '_I shall now call you Mr. Creepy, who loves the game hide-and-go-seek.'_

"Oi! Pink eyes! Don't let your guard down! This is a war," I reprimed him as I but the two halves of my flute back together, now kneeling on the ground instead of crouching, trying to politely ignore the tears I saw welling up from behind in goggles. This was war dammit! And we were, for lack of the better term, trained killers! _'You don't cry from mere shock like that. You react!_

"Just remember to stay aware of your surroundings next time, okay?" Rin, who was to the left of Obito, said softly, making a soft blush run across his cheeks as he hurried looked away from her. I chuckled under my breath as I watched this, even though a small pitiful in the pit of my stomach let itself known again, but just like all the other times, I pushed it down, not paying attention to it. Instead, I put my attention into trying to find where Kakashi had gotten to. I scrutinized the trees and giant mushrooms, not seeing a glimpse of the white haired boy.

"Kakashi!" Rin cried out, standing and turning around abruptly, Obito and myself as well. Minato and a now bleeding Kakashi were behind us. I rushed over to Kakashi and placed a hand over his wound, looking at him and our sensei in confusion.

"Wha-" I cut myself off, narrowing my eyes as I looked back to Kakashi, the _thud_ of sensei pack being dropped was heard in the background. I didn't need to look to know that Sensei had gone to where the enemy was and had taken care of him. "That Iwa-shinobi... He had a short sword on his back... You were going too fast and didn't have time to evade, so sensei had to go and save you." My eyes narrowed even further when he didn't reply, just glared at the ground, one eye closed in pain. I sighed and pulled my now bloody hand away, standing up.

"Rin."

"Yes?"

"Take care of Kakashi's shoulder, please?"

"Of course, I'll start right now," Rin said as she moved to the spot I was, her hands over his wounds as the glowed a soothing green. I grabbed a scrap cloth from my bag and wiped the blood from my hands as I noticed that Minato-sensei was now back.

"Kakashi's wound is pretty bad. For now, we'll retreat back to the camp." He said as he calmly walked over to the four of us.

"I'm fine!" Kakashi defeated, but the small wince that he tried to cover counteracted it.

_'No you're not, you dumb dog,'_ I thought, angry at him for being so careless, and in turn, making me worry.

"What do you mean 'fine'?!" Obito yelled out, "you selfishly went your own way against sensei's orders and did something crazy!"

"I don't want to say anything to you. To the 'elite Uchiha', a coward and a crybaby!" Kakashi reprimed as Rin worked on his wound, still keeping his bored-like tone.

"That... There was something in my eye and the tears were to get it out!"

"Do you know 'Shinobi rule 25'? The rule that says 'A shinobi must never show his emotions'!"

"Hey... You two should stop this," Rin pleaded from still beside Kakashi, finished healing him. I sent a pleading look to sensei, knowing that if there was hope to stop them, it was him.

"Take it easy you two..." He said sternly to them, effectively stopping them. "Kakashi. Of course, the rules and regulations are important, but, that's not all there is to it. I've told you before. There is also a time where you have to cope with the situation."

"Hah! Look!" Obito gloated as Kakashi looked back down at the ground.

"Obito! As for you! You were wearing your goggles, so you couldn't have had something in your eye. If you don't control your mouth, then your mind will become just as weak," He chastised Obito as well, stopping his gloating mood. "And one more thing... Kakashi. That jutsu you used. You shouldn't use it again. A thrust all concentrated in one point. Of course, you have the destructive power and speed, but, because the speed of your movements are so fast, you can't see your opponent's counter. Because of that, it's an incomplete jutsu."

"Before we separate... I'll say it again. The most important thing to a shinobi is teamwork!" All four of us looked down at the ground in shame, not wanting to meet our sensei's eyes as everyone got up and began to make our way back through the forest to our camp for the night.

"It's pretty much healed completely now. But if you over do it, the wounds will open up again," Rin told Kakashi as she tightly wrapped a medical bandage around his shoulder. I sat a little ways away, hair down, and rubbing my eyes, trying to stifle my yawns from a once again nearly sleepless night. Though I did smile slightly when I saw that he was wearing the necklace I had giving to him still.

"Alright," He told her, slowly reaching for his shirt, which laid right beside me. I pushed my hair away and handed it to him.

"Her-," a yawn cut off what I was saying as I handed his shirt to him. He gave me a concerned look.

"Thanks," he took the shirt from me, and began to put it one, "didn't get much sleep last night?"

I shrugged and began to pull my hair back up, sneaking a look over to Obito as Kakashi still had his shirt over his head. The talk between Minato-sensei and him about Kakashi's father surfaced in my mind before I looked back at my childhood friend. "I try, but you know me. I find staring at the moon and the stars more entertaining than finding out what my mind comes up with while I sleep.

"Okay! Let's head off!" Minato-sensei called out. All of us began to pack our bags as fast as we could.

"Yes, sir!" We called back, swinging our packs onto our backs, walking in time with our Sensei, who was in the front, then Obito and Rin, and then lastly Kakashi and I taking up the back. After a few minutes of walking, I reached back into my back and pulled out a small little green pill. I winced when I held it in my palm, but I placed it into my mouth and swallow nevertheless. I shook my head a little and stuck out my tongue after.

"God, those things have to be the worst tasting pills in the entire world," I complained under my breath as we walked.

"But yet, they are the only thing that will keep you awake through the day," Kakashi said back. I swatted him in the back of the head, just knowing that his mask was hiding a knowing smirk.

"Shut it know that even if I was half dead from fatigue I could still beat your ass in ten minutes."

"Riiight. The how come I'm the only jounin out of the two of us?" I tried to swat him again, but this time, he ducked. I secretly tried to hit him a few more times, making sure not to alert the people in front of us, though.

"Just. Stay. The. Fuck. Still. You. Fucking. Dog!" With each word I tried swatting him, only to him dodge again and again. I tried one more time, but this time, he grabbed my hand and flicked my forehead. I jerked and pulled my hand back, glaring at him.

"You are sooo asking for it," I angrily whispered at him, slowly pulling out a water skin that hung off my backpack.

"Harmony. Hands away from the water supplies," My hands froze where they were, mere centimetres away from it before I quickly pulled my hands behind my back, looking like a child who just got caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

"Ahaha. Can't keep away from the water, can you?" Rin laughed as she walked back, a smile on her face.

I pointed over to Kakashi, "it's not my fault! He was asking for it!"

"I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to attack your captain, Harmony," I glared at him as he said that with a disappointing sigh.

"Shut it you!" This time, I turned my head away from him and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Enough you guys," Minato-sensei said, walking towards us. He was trying to look stern, but I could see that he was holding back a smile. "From here, we split unit two groups. Everyone, do you best. It was only by chance that the enemy was scouting alone. From now one, it'll be team battles. Be careful."

"Let's go... Captain," Obito spoke up. Now that I think about it, he had been unusually quiet all morning. I lowered my arms and looked at him, a hint of a smile on my lips. Looks like the talk Sensei and him had done some good.

"Right... Let's go!" Sensei said as he raised his right arm.

"Okay!" The four of us called out, all now standing in a line, and not trying to hit the others.

"Scatter!" That was the last word he said to us before we took off running through the now giant bamboo forest.

_'Something seems off... It's too quiet here,' _I thought to myself as we walked across a small slow current river. I keep looking over my shoulders, making sure I didn't miss anything because I was the last person in the formation, so my main job was to protect our backs and have a joint effort in protecting Rin, the only person in our group who know medical ninjutsu, who was walking in front of me and behind Obito. Kakashi had the front, making sure to keep his eyes, and nose, open. I only say nose because I swear he could smell out enemies a mile sooner than I could pinpoint their locations by the noise they make.

I couldn't help but smile when I saw Kakashi raise his one hand, signally us to stop. _'And speak of the devil. Wonder how many he sniffed out?'_ I looked behind me again, slowly pulling out a couple of shurikens, before a strange noise caught my attention. _'Almost like something... Falling... And a lot of somethings... SHIT!'_ I quickly jerked my head up, seeing a myriad amount of sharpened broken bamboo pieces rapidly falling towards us like rain. I grabbed Rin and keep her close as Obito hastily formed some hand signs and released a giant fireball, burning all the pieces.

"Rin, stay behind me, got it?" I asked as I shoved the other girl further behind me, holding all my shurikens in one hand as I watched as Kakashi took on the one that had tried to ambush us. _'Wait... One? Shouldn't they be... in a squad?' _I thought to myself as I lowered my hand, flinching when I heard something crack behind Rin and I. That and the sound of Rin's scream were the last things I heard before pain erupted on the back of my head, efficiently making my world go black.

"Uuuh..." I groaned as I slowly woke up, head throbbing. I began to move my hands blindly to hold my head, only to find out that something was restricting both of my hands behind my back._ 'Right... We got ambushed and I was careless... Where's Rin?!'_ Pain, and currently inability to really move right now ignored, I scanned my surroundings, looking for my fellow female teammate, We were in what looked to be a type of cave, a deep one too, seeing how little amount of light was filtering through. A little ways away from where I currently was leaning against the wall was two men, Iwa-shinobis, one of them was the one that I watched fight against Kakashi, and Rin, who was also tied up. I saw the two walk, but I couldn't hear what they were talking, so I could only watch as one help up a hand sign and seemed to disappear.

'_So that's how he got behind us...'_ I concluded as my head as I watched the other put Rin into a genjutsu, most likely trying to pry information out of her. And if they don't get what they want out of her, then they will try and get it out of me. To bad I would rather die than give up anything about my village, even the best days to go to Ichiraku Ramen for some half-priced miso ramen.

"Hey, y-" I suddenly cried out in pain, cutting off the taunt I was going to say. The throbbing in the back of my head had turned into a stabbing, and I could no longer ignore it. But that wasn't the only thing. For some reason I could hear someone playing the flute, and as the pain in my head grew more intensive, so did the music. Together they blocked off almost everything. I closed one of my eyes as I bit the inside of my lips, trying to gain back control of my body.

_'Must... Be some type. Of genjutsu...' _As I thought this I noticed that I had lost feeling in both of my legs and I was slowly sliding towards the ground. _'Is he even... Able to cast... Such a-aaahhhh!' _All I wanted to do was grasp my hands over my head, maybe see if I could hold it together because it was feeling like it was splitting right down the middle.

_'Just make it stop.' _I whimpered as I slowly hit the ground, now laying down. But I couldn't really tell because by now I had lost the feeling half way up my chest. I could feel the sweat running down my face and my breath was coming out in short pants.

"Da-dammit..." I whimpered under my breath as I tried to remember how to breathe correctly and open my eyes. What I saw though my pain induced eyes confused me. Light was streaming in from one side of the cave, light that wasn't there before, and there were more people present in the cave. the blood drained from my face. _'I-iwa shin..obi- wait... No. The one... is fighting the ... Others?'_ I forced both of my eyes to stay open as I tried to understand what was going on. It was beginning to scare me, not knowing what was going on. I closed my eyes again, swearing in my head as small whimpers exited my lips. I could only feel to the bottom of my neck now, and the melody that was coming from a flute somewhere increased its volume tenfold, making it even more unbearable.

_'Just make it stop... Please...' _Was the only thing I could think as I let out a blood curdling screaming, opening my eyes to watch as the two new figures were running towards Rin and I.

* * *

**Kusagakure* - Hidden Grass Village**

**Iwa-Shinobis* - Hidden Rock ninjas**


	4. Chapter 3

**_I don't own Naruto._**

* * *

_This is strange. I feel like I know where I am right now, but everything is wrong. It's the same forest that I travelled through all the time, east of Konoha, but there are fewer trees and more small roads that I don't know where they leave. It's also weird because I should be nowhere near the village, seeing as the team and I was heading for the north-east border. I can't remember much of what happened, the last thing was telling Rin to stay behind me after we got ambushed by Iwa-Shinobis. Did Kakashi, Obito, and Rin beat them? Where are they, I can't even sense any of their chakras? Was Minato-sensei's part of the mission successful? Why was it after I woke up on the side of the road that I was alone? Why did I wake up on the side of an unfamiliar road? And more importantly, what all happened after I blacked out? My head feels like it was put through a vice. Maybe after I walk for a while I'll hopefully remember something._

I frowned when I looked down at what I had written, brushing my tangled hair out of my face.

_So, because I have no clue what's going on, but I do know what I have to do. 1. Find my teammates (and beat the hell out of them for leaving me behind) 2. Find my flute, because my flute and all my shinobi tools were gone when I woke up. Even my headband! And last but not least 3. Get back to Konoha (and get a new headband)_

I nodded my head in conclusion before snapping my journal closed, placing it in the only pouch that I had left on me. After I made sure that the top was snapped closed I stood up from the branch I was sitting on, dust from the dirt that had literally covered my clothes. My dark purple crop jacket with a longer left sleeve and my dark blue half skirt that covered nearly all of my left leg and went up to my mid-thigh on my right leg were by far the worst, stained and a little tattered, but I knew a good tailor in the Village so I wasn't all that worried. My light blue tank top, the fishnets I wear underneath my jacket that and my black shorts that I wore under my skirt were better but still dusty.

The only part that wasn't as dirty was the bottom of my left sleeve was wear my clan symbol was located, which is a crescent moon that had three lines running from the bottom left to the top right, connected by two stars. The top half of the moon was silver while the bottom half was gold. I didn't really know why that single part of my whole outfit wasn't dirty, but it wasn't taking precedence in my mind right now. I looked up and saw through the tree tops that it was early in mid-morning.

_'Well, I guess I should better get walking', _I thought to myself as I jumped off the tree branch and made my way onto the road, taking the direction I had seen an elderly couple take as they talked about the 'giant village' that they were heading too. It had been a few hours ago, so I didn't really expect to see them again. _'Idiot! You should have asked them what this 'village' was!'_ I scolded myself, trying to tame my tangled hair before I gave up and tied it into a high ponytail as I slowly made my way on the road.

_'Well, seeing a random red-haired girl stumble out of the forest, covered head to toe in dirt, asking about where they were going would have probably scared them off. I just hope I don't get lost before I find my team. I for one do not want to spend a day, or night in an unfamiliar territory while a war is going on, especially alone with no tools.'_

_'And I am so officially lost...'_ I had been walking on the small road for more hours than I could have kept track of, trying to stay going east encase I got lucky, but too many times the road forked off and went in two or three different directions. I had not seen a single soul while I was walking, human or animal, so when I was walking I would often snack on plants I found that I knew were edible, but they didn't fully satisfied me. For a while a small creak travelled alongside the road, so I was able to stay hydrated, but I ended up taking a turn that the creek did not.

_'If only there was a wild strawberry patch,'_ my mind tended to go off on its own after a while. Most of the time I would have pulled out my flute to keep myself from keeping myself entertained, but I did keep myself from dying of boredom by singing some tunes that I knew, but some of the time, I just hummed.

What I did find weird was that there were no lingering kunai, shuriken, or any debris laying around, or hear the sounds of a fight in the distance. I hadn't seen such a calm landscape in months since the war had started, and most places like this with no small villages around and still close to a days travel to the borders would have been places that fights would have gone on between enemy shinobis.

"Okay, I must still be asleep and dreaming, because there is no way that everything is this peaceful! Maybe I'm half awake and the team is bringing me back to the village," I closed my eyes and slapped both of my cheeks. "Time to wake up Harmony. Wake up."

I slowly reopened my eyes and saw the same scenery I had seen before, and I was still the only one of the road as the sun was slowly sinking below the horizon. I frowned and painfully pinched my arm. "Ow! Okay, not dreaming! Definitely not dreaming."

I looked around, trying to see if I could find any indications of a town, but as far as I could tell, the area I was walking through wasn't home to any civilization. I frowned and crossed my arms, looking back at the sunset colour splashed sky. I had been walking all day, a few breaks with little nutrients and water, my strength feeling like it was being drained from my body, and my memories still too foggy to make anything of it. All I could now remember was the sound of a flute, a sad lonely tune.

'_Well, I guess there's no point on finding camp yet, even though it looks like I will be spending the night alone in a war zone, no matter how peaceful it looks. Who's going to get no sleep tonight? Oh right, I don't get much sleep anyways. Might as well keep on walking till I pass out. Maybe then someone will find me and maybe help… Or just kidnap and sell me or just kill me on the spot,'_ so that's what I did, just kept on walking east for a few more hours until it was getting too dark to see and my feet dragging across the ground, fighting to keep my eyes open. I had taking up talking to myself instead of humming, just to fill up the deathly silence that surrounded me. Though it didn't help with my paranoia

"God dammit. Just where in the hell am I? And where the hell is everyone? You know what? I'm still not fully convinced that this isn't a dream. Well, maybe if I pass out right now, I can go back to where I really am and wake up from this stupid nightmare. At least for once it's not a nightmare filled with gore and blood. Oh god, please don't tell me I just jinx that!" I frantically looked back and forth, paranoia flaring until I got a grip and realized how stupid I was being.

"Geez, stop freaking out Harmony. There's nothing here but trees, trees… And more trees. Oh well, I guess I just… Have to…-" my mind went black as my body went limp, making me fall over, unconscious in the middle of the road. Right as I was saying 'I guess I have to just keep walking.' Ironic, isn't it?

When you've passed out from exhaustion and paranoia, you would expect to have someone see you and ask if you were alright and maybe bring you to a nearby hospital. That or see you passed out, kidnap you, sell you, or kill you right then and there. But nope, none of that was my case. I woke up, covered in even more dirt, in the middle of a flipping road surrounded by TREES! I was in the same spot I had passed out a few hours before, and no one even found me!

'_Stupid "great village". If you were so great and so nearby then maybe one of your 'great' shinobis would have been able to find a helpless person passed out in THE MIDDLE OF A ROAD!'_ I was very tempted to break out swearing like a sailor, but I took a deep breath and slowly counted back from ten.

"Calm down girl. Just calm down. You woke up in the same spot, which means no one walked passed you when you were out, or no enemies, shinobis, or ordinary people. All you have to do is take a few more deep breaths, concentrate, look at our surroundings and continue walking." Doing as I said I took a deep breath to center myself, then walked up to a random tree, then walked up it, continuing until I nearly reached the top. I walked onto a hanging branch and squatted down, balancing myself and buffering the wind.

_'Now look at our surroundings...'_ I looked directly in front of me, which I was guessing was south by the way the sun was rising, and then looked Westward, then to the North. All I could still see were trees. Sighing, I turned my attention to the East. I felt as if the blood left my body, leaving me cold. I could see mostly only trees, but on the horizon was a humongous circular wall with a pair of green doors. The whole time I was walking I had guessed that I could have been heading to Konohagakure, but I had dismissed it numerous times, nearly hoping that I wasn't. I shouldn't have been anywhere near here. It shouldn't be possible!

_'But I'm so close to being home...'_ I shook my head and jumped down, branch to branch until I landed slowly on the grass. I only really had one option, the same one I had chosen since I had woken up. Keep on walking. Judging by how small the walls seemed, it should take me at least nearly another whole day by walking, or around half a day if I ran through the trees. _'If only I was fully healed right now,'_ I cursed my aching joints as I began to walk. I was going to wait until my body hurt a little less and had a bit more rest before I pushed it too hard.

_'It shouldn't take too long fo-'_ the sound of my stomach grumbling, cutting off my thoughts. My face went from pale white from seeing the gates to cherry red.

"First, I guess I should try and find something else to eat. If I'm this close to the village there should be at least some type of edible vegetation."

'I_'m not sure if I could call this a glass half empty or half full.'_ By the time the moon was sinking to the horizon, I had made it to the main road, and the gates were only maybe a mile away, clearing in sight, which was really good, but it didn't really seem to matter all that much. Small waves of pain had been coursing through my body for the past few hours, making the walk longer than it had to be. I had never gotten the chance to run through the trees because of it.

_'Finally, almost there.'_ I thought tiredly, taking another shaky step after another, fighting to keep my eyes open and not to sway to much. _'I'm almost there. I can finally see everyone again, and give some fellow teammates a piece of my mind.'_

A few more shaky steps towards the village. Nearly halfway there. _'That's it, just keep your mind on other things than the pain, you can do this.' _I kept this mantra up until I slowly closed the distance, silently celebrating when I finally crossed the gate line and in the village, even if it was only a few feet.

"Who are you? State your name and purpose of coming to the village!" someone demanded from the side. Foggily I remember that it should be from where the gate desk was, with the guards. It was strange. The person's voice didn't sound like Tezuka's voice, one of the current guards. I tried to move my head to see who had replaced Tezuka, but just moving my head made me wince in pain, but I still fought against it and looked at him slightly.

"I said, state your name and purpose for coming to the village!" he demanded again. He was someone I hadn't ever seen before. He had spiky black hair, and a few bandages on his face, but that was all I could make out in the dark currently.

"...Harmony Kakureta Merodi… And I belong t-" and that was all I was able to say before I passed out … Again.

You know what's a good feeling? Knowing that even though you just woke up in the hospital from passing out because of exhaustion, that you're safe, and that there's no once staring at you in a creepy way? Well, I'm glad you know that feeling because I only got to experience it for a few seconds before I noticed that four masked ANBU were standing around in my hospital room, all looking at me.

"Once you are fully recovered, you must report to the Hokage office," the ANBU to the right of me, with what looked like a lion mask, informed me in a monotone voice. I looked at the three of them, trying to figure out what was going on before nodding my head slowly to the one that spoke. After I had nodded then turned to each other and each formed a single hand sign, disappearing in a cloud of smoke from their teleportation jutsu.

"Well… That's not odd at all. I mean, it's not like it's every day when a chunin like myself gets to meet four ANBU for no reason, whatsoever. Even if it was just to tell me to go and see the Hokage. A doctor, nurse, or even a fellow chunin could have told me that!" At the beginning, I had said it in a sarcastic tone, but by the end I was a little on the worried side. I looked around the room and saw for once I have not hooked up to a dozen machines, meaning I wasn't seriously injured at all. "I wonder if I will be discharged soon…"

I never was a person who tended to stay in hospitals for very long… Most because I tend to escape through the window when I was in one. But because of how serious things seemed to be right now, I decided it would be best if I properly, with a doctor's permission.

'_If I don't, those four ANBU will probably come back and detain me. Don't know why, though. Just what IS going on here? And why hasn't anyone visited me yet?' _I mulled over that as I waited for the doctor or nurse to come. Which they did, around an hour later. The nurse did a few routine test and then went over my vitals. After going through everything the doctor cleared me and gave back my belongs, telling me I could leave once I was ready before she and the nurse left the room.

'_Now time to go and see gramps. I wonder if he misses me yet. I've only been gone for a few days now. Me being gone, and returning alone wouldn't be a good enough reason to send four ANBU to my room.'_ stretching my arms over my head after cover my head after getting changed, I couldn't help but smile softly at the thought of seeing the Hokage again, even if something was going on. He was like family to me, a grandpa figure, after my family was killed. I tried to go and visit him every day, and if I missed a day I would stay even longer the next to make up for it. I would also spend my days either at my sensei's house, who became like a father for me or at my teammate's houses.

_'I better get going. As much as I respect them, I really don't want them to come and visit again,' _I walked over to the window and opened, jumping onto the ledge, and then leaping off, landing on dusty gravel. After looking back at the hospital, I noticed something was off. 'Was the hospital this big?' I cocked my head to the side in thought, before shrugging and making my way to the Hokage's office.

"Just why is there always so many stairs?!" I demanded, just like I always did as I walked up the spiralling flights inside the building. But really, it was just a way to distract myself. On the way to the office, I noticed that so many things in the village looked different. There was even an extra face on the Hokage Mountain that looked a lot like Minato-sensei. I even had to ask an old lady how to get to the office, because there were so many new buildings around that it severely confused me. People seemed happy and unafraid, and when I tried to talk to some people about what was going on, they all told me that there's been peace for the last decade!

'J_ust what is going on here? It's like I time travelled or something!'_ I scoffed at the idea of time travel as I arrived at the door to the Hokage's over, about to knock on it when an elder's voice cut me off.

"Enter."

_'Did gramps always sound that old? Or is it muffled by the door?' _I wondered as I moved my hand to the doorknob, twisted it, and then opened it, stepping inside. The moment I saw him sitting behind his desk, my question had been answered, but only to have another questioned asked.

_'He looked like he has aged at least another twenty years! How is that possible? The last time I had seen him was before I went to go and meet up with everyone at the gates less than a week ago!'_

"How…" the question that was dying to be asked died on my lips. This was simply wasn't happening!

"Harmony… Is that really you?" gramps asked. I couldn't help but continue to stare at his white hair and new wrinkles. Even though my mind was in shambles since I had woken up I easily replied to him.

"I'm pretty sure I'm still me. Still weird red hair and abnormal amber eyes. Though I don't know why so many things have changed… I was here only five days ago," I dropped my stare at him and took to looking around the office, which hadn't seem to change all that much, like everything else in the village. "Oh, and have you seen any of the members of my squad? I'm starting to think that I'm seriously losing at a game of hide-and-go-seek, one that I don't remember signing up for. Especially since there's a war still going on." When I looked back at the somehow aged Hokage I found that he was now looking down at his desk.

"No. I'm sorry. I haven't seen your full squad. I haven't in a very long time," The way that he said that made an unpleasant feeling run down my spine. I took some of her current confusion and turned it into anger. This was beginning to really scare me!

"What do you mean 'full'?! And for a very long time?! We just left for a mission! One that you assigned us!" I walked over closer to him and slammed both of my palms onto his desk. "Just what in the hell is going on here Gramps?!"

"Harmony. You've…. You've been missing and presumed dead for over thirteen years now. The war had long passed."


	5. Chapter 4

**_I don't own Naruto._**

* * *

"W-What?!" that's all I could manage to say after staring at him for around a minute in shock. I blinked a few times before I held my head in my hands, shaking it back and forth. "No! That's not possible! None of this is possible! It couldn't have been thirteen years! I don't believe you!" I looked up, glaring.

"This is just some sick trick isn't it?! Where's my squad?! They put you up to this, to get back at me for some reason! Didn't they?! That's why I woke up on the side of the road!" I abruptly turned around, making my way for the door.

"Wait! Harmony, I know you don't want to believe it, but it's true. And you know your team wouldn't do something like this to you as a joke or prank," Gramps called, making me stop.

"Then where are they?" I asked in a small voice. "Why haven't I seen them yet?"

"That day, on your last mission… Only three of the five of you came back from it alive…" I could hear the sorrow in his voice, but I didn't want to face the truth, adamant to deny it.

"That's a lie! The had to have made it out alive!" I shut my eyes, trying to remember what had happened. When I had been walking it had slowly came back to me. I remember foggily seeing the Iwa-shinobis fighting against someone, and then seeing two figures run towards Rin and I, before it all went blank.

"Kakashi and Obito… They were they when Rin and I had been captured… They had defeated the two! There was no one else, they had to have made it out alive!"

"The man that they were fighting made the cave he was stationed in collapse. Kakashi was injured and nearly didn't make it out, had it not been for Obito. He saved Rin and Kakashi, but it was a steep price." I covered my mouth, trying to hold back the tears that I could feel were beginning to gather. "Kakashi told me that Obito's last words were for him to save Rin because they were getting ambushed and that Kakashi didn't have to worry, he was going to stay by your side so you wouldn't be lonely, as a teammate should."

"But the rest- everyone else is okay now… Right?!" I couldn't help but ask, tears streaming down my face. I didn't know how I was still standing after I heard of Obito's death, but I fell to the ground when Gramps still didn't look at me. "No. NO! You told me everyone else made it back!"

"They did. But a year later Rin and Kakashi went on a mission in the Hidden Mist, they got ambushed as well, and Rin was killed in the battle. A little while later Minato was made the fourth Hokage, but during Kushina's labour, the Kyuubi was freed. He saved the village, but both he and Kushina were killed, along with many others."

"They… They're all dead…" I whispered, kneeling on the ground. I looked up at Gramps. "Wait. What about Kakashi? And their child?! What happened to Minato-sensei's and Kushina's child?!"

"Kakashi is fine. After the Kyuubi's attack he was promoted to ANBU captain, but after a while he decided it wasn't right or him, so now he is a jounin." A tiny bit of relief washed over me.

_'Fang's okay.'_

"And their child?

"He's name is Naruto Uzumaki, eleven years old. They sacrificed themselves to save him, but unfortunately, he is the new jinchūriki, even if he does not know of it himself. He was never told who his parents are, or what happened that night."

"So, he's all alone, but doesn't know why." I couldn't help but glare at that, still on the ground. Gramps nodded.

"Unfortunately. But he has his parents strength, and their personalities as well." I closed my eyes and steadied myself, slowly standing up, wiping the tears from my face.

"Is there any way I could watch over him? I know things have changed, and I'm not sure- no, I know I'm not ready to take on all of the tasks and weight I bared before, but I can't have him being all alone anymore. He is Minato-sensei's and Kushina's blood, and therefore, family to me." I looked up, my will resolved. I had no choice but believe in the fact that something happened to me and I was now in a different time, and it would take a while to get used to, but I couldn't wouldn't, let their son suffer the way he might be.

'I_ will honour all of your sacrifices Obito, Rin, Sensei. I will make you proud.'_

"Well, if that is how you feel, you could go back to the academy and join his class. The genin test will be happening in a two weeks or so. I know you don't have very fond memories from when you were there, but it will give you time to adjust and look over Naruto " I could see the pride in his eyes as he told me thing. I placed my arms to my sides and bowed.

"Thank you very much for your consideration, Hokage-sama. When shall I start?"

"I shall send a message to Iruka Umino, telling him he will have a transfer student joining him tomorrow," I stood up and raised an eyebrow.

"Iruka? The one I used to babysit as a kid? Is he a sensei now? Wow, he should be twenty-one, twenty-two now."

"Yes he is, and I'm sure he will be happy to see you again. I know for a fact he was one of the people that got hit the hardest by the news of your 'death'. But then again, many were."

"What should we do about…" I hesitated for a second, before continuing, "About me being back?"

Gramps stood from his desk and walked up beside me. "Right now I think it would be wise if we only told those who question it. Telling the whole village might alert previous enemy's, and once they get word they would want to come and see if it is true."

"There's also the fact that many won't believe me if they didn't originally know me. Time travel shouldn't be possible, especially if the person didn't activate it themselves," I shook my head. "Something happened that day, and I don't know what, but I will find out."

"I'm surprised to hear that you are taking so well to this Harmony. I have to say that I am struggling with it myself. But it brings me great joy to know that you are okay."

"I'm not… I'm just taking it in stride until I have everything figured out. Then I'll try and deal with it." he placed a hand on my shoulder, a sad smile accompanying it.

"At least you are willing to try… I know that this is late by a couple of years, but happy thirteenth birthday Harmony." I nodded and returned his smile, before wrapping my arms around him.

"Thanks, Gramps."

After spending the rest of the day talking with Gramps, I knew the moment I shut the Hokage's office doors behind me I knew that I was going to have an emotional night. It was a lot, nearly too much to all take in.

'_May twenty-fifth… Two days ago, for me, my teammates were alive.'_ I shook my head as I began to make my way down the stairs I had climbed before. _'You have to stop thinking that way. It was thirteen years and two days ago.'_ Images of Obito, Rin, Minato-sensei, Kushina, and Kakashi ran through my mind as I left the building and let my feet wander.

_'I wonder how they would all look now. Wonder if Obito would have won over Rin, got his Sharingan, and showed his clan that he was just as good, if not better than the other. I wonder if Rin would have been made a combat medic-nin like she dreamed of. I wonder if Kakashi would have become less cold like he was when we were kids. I wonder what Minato-sensei would have been like as Hokage. I wonder...' _Those two words kept circulating around and around in my head, always having something hanging off them. As I was thinking I would casually look around the village, see how much it had really changed, and then noticed that I left like a _foreigner _in my own home. It made my skin crawl as I walked, the ground slowly turning from gravel and dust to grass.

_'I wonder… Would you all still have managed to get your names written on this stone, even if nothing had happened and I had stayed with you all?'_ I placed a hand on the black stone with names of the deceased engraved on it. The sun was setting, letting up a little light, but I could still see all of their names, written in different areas. My family, my team, and people I had looked up too when I was little. The devastating feeling I got when I was listening to Gramps hit me again like a sledgehammer, only, this time, it was worse, accompanied by the feeling of loneliness. I feel to the ground, cry once again, one of my hands placed above my heart as it began to rip in two, while the other went to the pouch I normally kept my flute in, only to remember that it had been stolen from me.

_'And now I will never get it back,' _the empty feeling creased inside me, making me cry even harder. The flute had been a gift from my mother, her most prized possessions. She told me that she played it every day as a child, and just like tradition in our clan, the mother would give the flute to her daughter when she reached the age of three. And I had it taken from me when I was weak.

"I'm so sorry everyone. I am so sorry. I should have tried something, anything, to prevent this. I miss you all so much already, and I know that I'm not worth the tears you may have shed for me. I feel like I don't know how I will live now. Very thing is just confusing now," I whispered as I tried to get a hold of the tears spilling from my eyes, but I forced a small smile on my face. "But I know you would all say there is no reason for me not feeling as if I don't belong, and I just have to try my best. I wished none of you had to go, but I promise, I will live on so I don't disappoint you anymore."

I wiped the tears from my eyes and moved so that I was laying on my back, looking up at the stars that were beginning to show in the night sky. I felt drained, and I couldn't fight my eyes from dropping close.

"I promise to make you proud, make things right, and figure out what happened that day," I whispered in my mind before I gave into my body wanting to sleep, too exhausted to even dream.

The next morning I felt as if someone had glued my eyelids together, took a saw to my head, and laid five tonnes of rock on my body to weight me down. I had been wrong about being too exhausted to dream, of anything, the exhausted added to the nightmare I had, along with everything that Gramps had told me the day before. I had dreamt of Obito because crushed by giant boulders, Rin getting stabbed through the chest, as well as Minato-sensei and Kushina, but the two of them had been stabbed by a giant claw. All were filled with their share of blood and cries.

I slowly shook my head to rid of the lingering images as I propped myself up off the ground.

_'What a wonderful dream… Not.'_ I thought to myself, rubbing my eyes with my other hand. I stopped when I thought I heard someone approaching me. I tried to opened my eyes and get a good look, but everything was too fuzzy. All I could make out was someone who wasn't very tall, so maybe a child, black spiked hair, and possible dark blues clothes.

"Obito?" I groggily questioned, before scowling myself. "No, it's just my mind playing tricks on me from my dreams. Obito, just like the rest, is gone." I laid back down on the ground but kept my head turned to whoever showed up.

_'And who is now leaving.'_ I frowned and rubbed my eyes again.

"Okay, be rude like that. If you don't want to tell me your name to help me with this confusion, that's cool. But you can at least tell me what time it is?" annoyed, I asked, only to get ignored again. I huffed and closed my eyes when I saw whoever it was leave. As the sleep cleared from my eyes I could tell that he was not Obito if his rudeness was enough of a giveaway, but he still looked as if he could be related to him.

I sat up and dusted off my clothes before running a hand through my once again mangled hair. 'Well, of course, he could be related to Obito, even if he may be like half or a quarter Uchiha. His clan was pretty large, and it's probably only gotten bigger." I stood up and dusted myself off.

"On a different note, I should really invest in some lasting food, a new pack, a good brush, some cleaners, an alarm, and new clothes. Thank god Gramps gave me some money before I left…" I trailed off for a few seconds before I reached for the pouched tied to my shorts, making sure if was still there. I sighed in relief when I felt it. For all, I could have known someone could have seen me in the middle of the night and took it. Then I looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was still fairly low

"Hmm, I would have to guess it's around six- six thirty… And if I remember, classes didn't start till nine in the morning, so I have around three hours. Now, I wonder if there are any places here where I can take a bath, wash my clothes at the same time and have some place to eat nearby."

"I can't believe old Daburu Kurīnā* is still around! That place was ancient, even when I was a kid!" I laughed as I took another bite out of the sandwich I had bought. I felt much better now that I was no longer covered in dirt, wearing clean, patched up clothes, had the few things I needed, and some food. I was cutting it close, though, the small clock I had gotten showed that it was 8:50, ten minutes before classes start.

_'God, this brings back memories. And I sound like an old lady.'_ I walked onto the grass underneath a large tree, a few metres from the academy, looking at the long swing that hung from a large branch. My first memory of this swing wasn't all that pleasant, but other that followed did bring a happy note. I had a good year here before Kakashi excelled and graduated before me when we were only five years old. The next few years after that were quite lonely. A few of the boys who tried to bully me as a kid for my 'unique' looks tried to take advantage of the fact that my 'guard dog' as they said had left. I wasn't really myself again until I was but into a squad. My squad that had a few people from my class, Rin, and Obito, who I never really got close too until we were a squad. And because we were the same age as Kakashi, but already a chunin, he was placed in our squad. I was still close with Kakashi, years after he became a genin and the chunin, but it was different, no, better, when we were on the same squad.

_'And now here I am again… I think this classifies as irony in it's truest form,'_ I chuckled under my breath. I stepped away from the tree swing finally and began to make my way to Hell's doors. _'Might as well welcome it with open arms.'_

I was about halfway to the doors before I saw a blur of yellow and orange in my peripheral vision and was knocked off my feet.

"Son of a bit-!" I cried out in pain, but catching myself so the curse I was able to yell wasn't complete. I was on my side, my left shoulder throbbing, but I lifted myself and looked at what crashed into me. That what turned out to be a who, and he was a boy with spiky blonde hair and wearing an orange and blue jumpsuit with a pair of green goggles on his forehead. He too was on the ground, but he was rubbing his head in pain.

_'Well, that explains why my shoulder hurts.' _I slowly got up and held my hand out to the boy who ran into me. After a few seconds, the boy stopped rubbing his head and realized that he wasn't alone. And that I was still holding my hand out for him. I all but froze when he looked up at me with ocean blue eyes, and each cheek decorated with three lines, looking almost like whiskers.

"Ah… Sorry, my fault. I didn't see ya there, ya know," he apologized, cheeks now little coloured, taking my hand. I snapped out of my trance when he did and pulled him up. I noticed that he had a few splatter of paint on his face and clothes.

_'I wonder if he has anything to do with a few of the buildings new paint jobs?' _the image of a could of shops I walked passed by, with the words 'The Future Hokage was here, Believe it!' painted across them.

"No, I shouldn't have been taking so long. My name is Harmony," I shook the hand I was still holding while giving a friendly smile. He mimicked my smile and returned the shake.

"Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki! Future Hoka-"

"NARUTO!" that was all he said before his eyes widen to the size of dinner plates. After a whispered curse and a fleeting goodbye, he let go of my hand and raced inside. A few seconds later another blur, this time, green and brown, flew passed me, yelling and no doubt chasing Naruto into the academy.

_'Minato-sensei's and Kushina's son.'_ I small laugh left my lips. _'He had sensei's dashing looks, but he picked up his mother's way of talking. Plus, it seems he has his own personality mixed in. Dear lord, I pity Iruka,'_ another laugh left me as I continued walking and entered the building, this time not getting trampled luckily.

Taking a quick look at the paper Gramps had given me before I left, I walked the hallway until I found the door with the matching numbers. I was going to knock, but I heard some sort of yelling from coming from inside.

_'Screw it, let's see how Scarface handles his kids,'_ I purposely opened the door and stepping inside, greeted by the sight of Naruto being tied up on the ground and Iruka standing over him, head ten times bigger, and yelling. I nearly burst out laughing, but I held it in.

"Ummm… Did I come in at a bad time? Or do I have the wrong class?" I asked, somehow making my voice sound slightly disturbed when all I wanted to do was fall down, laughing. "I'm supposed to be in room 3-C, the graduating class, right?" I brushed my hair away from my face as Iruka stepped away from the still tied up Naruto… But I don't think he will stay that way for long by the way the ropes are slowly becoming looser, enough for him to wave at me.

_'And escape artist too huh?'_ I walked over and handed Iruka the note that was along with the paper Gramps gave me.

"Oh, you must be the new student that Hokage-sama informed me about. Yes, you are in the right class, I was just taking care of some trouble. I am Iruka Umino-sensei." He told me, reading the note I gave him, really just saying I was a new transfer student. He looked at me a couple of times while reading it, and I saw flashes of recognition in his eyes, but I also say that he was denying it to himself. I smiled/smirked and bowed formally, my hair falling all over the place, as it was not tied back.

"It's nice to meet you Umino-sensei," I told him, playing the part of the new kid, I stood up and brushed my hair back into place, but let it still cover my left eye.

"It is nice to meet you too. Why don't you introduce yourself to your fellow classmates?" He asked, before taking a few steps back, dragging a nearly free Naruto along with him, making the question seem more like a demand. I turned and looked at my 'classmates'. A few looked like that where from clans that I knew, but the boy in the far right back corner was the one that I recognized me the most. He was definitely a Uchiha, and possibly even the one I had seen this morning, either that or I had half-dreamed it all.

I took a breath before bowing slightly to the class, opening my mouth to start, before I snapped it close, realizing something. _"Crap! I don't know if I'm supposed to use my real name or make one up! Just make it up as you go Harmony, can't screw up this soon!'_

"My name is Harmony Kakureta, and I recently moved here from…. Near the Tanigakure*. I hope we get along well," I said nervously. I said after I stood up, deciding to use only part of my name encase they had studied deceased clans of the Leaf, as well as picking a nearby hidden village that was just forming around the time of the war. I looked back at Iruka, who looked a bit shocked.

_'Well, there's one more person that knows. Though it was to be expected, I didn't try very hard to cover it up...'_ After a few seconds of him silently gaped I cleared my throat.

"Umm… Sensei. where am I to sit now?" I asked him, faking confusion. He snapped out of it but didn't notice Naruto run passed him.

"You can go and sit in any of the empty seats available, Kakureta-san," I turned and nodded my head, thankful that he was playing along, before making my way up to the steps. The only free seats were in the back. One in between Naruto and the Uchiha, and then an empty table on the other side.

I silently slipped into the middle seat of the empty table, setting my pack down on my feet, no longer wanting to attract any more attention. I had noticed all the looks unmistakable the girls were giving me when I looked over at the two boys debating if I should sit in between my squad member look-a-likes, and thought it would be better if I played things safe.

I also noticed all the curious, and not so curious the other half of the class was giving me as I sat down, but I simply propped my elbow on the table, placed my chin in my hand and ignored them, staring out at the window that was beside me. A few times Iruka would call me out to answer a question, or to perform a simple ninjutsu, as they were going over today. I made sure to not answer all the obvious questions right and messed up little on my transformation of him, making him shorter and having his scar on his forehead instead. Other than that I stared out at the changed scenery or doodled in my journal till the bell rang for their twenty-minute break. Apparently next we were going to go over basic taijutsu and kunai/shuriken throwing.

_'Fuuuun,' _I dragged out sarcastically in my mind, drawing a non-flattering picture of a boy in the class that had been giving me weird looks all class.

"Harmony, would it be okay if you stayed in, there are some things I want to go over with you so you don't fall behind," Iruka said as he stood by the blackboard. I was finishing up my picture, and the rest of the class had nearly all left.

"Sure I don't mind," closing my journal I stood up and walked to the front, and sat on his desk after the last student left. I stuck out my tongue at him, just like how I used too when he couldn't catch me in a game of tag that he begged me to play nearly every time I was at his house. Of course eventually, I would let him, though. I'm not that mean.

"So, hows life been treating you Scarface?" it felt good saying him by his child nickname, and it must have been good to hear it, because Iruka smiled for a second before he glared, walking up and grabbing me by the collar.

"You better tell me who you really are, why you are here, and how you know that name," my eyes widened by his aggression. I should have thought that some people, especially a chunin would be suspect me! Hell! I would suspect me!

"Calm down Iruka!" I yelled back, grabbing his hands and throwing them off, dropping me to the ground in a crouch. I saw him begin to go for his tools.

"If you even think about trying to hurt any of these children I will personally kill-"

I sprang up and put some distance between us, hands up defensively."Whoa! No need to go that far! I'm not planning anything! I just want to make sure my sensei's child is no longer alone! He's practically family, and I would never, ever, harm him, or anyone either!" I paused to catch my breath before continuing. "Look, I don't know what happened, but I'm alive. Gramps told me that everyone thought I had died from the cave in, like Obito, but I never did! One minute I was in that cave, with a splitting headache, and the next minute I wake up on the side of the road, a day and a half's travel from the village!"

"I don't believe you! I went to Harmony's funeral! And I just wished her a happy birthday yesterday, standing over her grave!"

"But they never found a body! Did they?! My 'grave' is only a headstone." I retorted back, before tossing the journal I had with me. I wanted him to understand desperately. "Here, look at that. The last times I wrote in this was on the twenty-second, during the mission, and the next was after I woke up! My handwriting and wording are the same! How could anyone but else me do that?! It's me Scarface! I'm alive, and standing in front of you right now."

His face was now considerably pale as he leafed through my journal, and after a few seconds, he staggered over to his chair, still skimming the pages. I waited for another minute before speaking up again.

"It really is me Iruka," I whispered, walking over and closing my journal when he was finished, now just staring blankly. I put it back into its pouch and looked back up at him again.

"I spent the night at the KIA stone, and I saw your parents names. I'm so sorry for your loss. It must have been during the Kyuubi's attack, right?" Iruka nodded his head and placed his hands over his face, rubbing it like he was suddenly tired.

"The village was never the same after that day," he told me, still covering his face.

"Do you hate him?" he shook his head, placing his hands on his lap and looking down at his desk.

"Naruto? No, I don't. I never could. He's only a child. A troublesome one I will admit, but it makes no difference to me."

Smiling, I gave him a side hug. "I knew you would never hate him. You were such a sweet kid, but you yourself weren't an angel all the time. Baka," he let out a small laugh.

"You should have seen how I acted a year or so after their death. I was the worst in the class, but the biggest clown. I could have made Naruto almost look like a saint. And don't you think that because I'm your sensei now you should treat me with respect?" I stuck my tongue out.

"Nope! To me, you will always be a snot dripping little pest I got paid to look after! No matter how old you are!" this time he laughed with more heart in it.

"Still as childish as ever, I see! And don't worry, to me you will always be my bossy older sister… Or would it be younger sister now?" giving him a playful glare, I crossed my arms with a sideways smile, and looked the other way, out the window where some kids were playing not far off.

"Shut it. If none of the unexplainable stuff had happened I would have turned twenty-six already. But thanks, Scarface."

"No problem Harmony… But I do have one question."

"And that would be?" I turned and asked him.

"The Takigakure in the Land of Rivers? Really? And using half of your name?" he asked, a devilish smile on his lips. I punched him lightly in the arm.

"I'll say it again. Shut it! I forgot to go over it with Gramps of I was suppose to make stuff up, and with so many kids staring at me my mind went black! You're lucky I even managed to make that much up on the spot!" laughing, Iruka stood up and rubbed the top of my head, making me scowl at him for few seconds before I too broke out laughing.

"It's good to have you back Harmony."

"It's good to be back. even if it takes time adjusting to everything and having to go through my own personal hell again."

* * *

**Daburu Kurīnā - means double cleaners. Because you can clean your body and clothes at the same time… I have no shame or pride, I know.**

**Tanigakure- Hidden Village of the Valley, located in the Land of Rivers, which is in between the Land of Wind and Fire.**


	6. Chapter 5

**_I don't own Naruto_**

* * *

_June 5th_

_Well, I guess you could say that my last nine days since I 'came back' to the Village have been eventful. Not the class, though. I tend to just doze off or stare off into space during it, and I know that Iruka understands why, but he should really stop throwing pieces of chalk at me when I do. It's getting a little annoying having to pick chalk out of my hair every day._

_And I found out it's going to be a lot harder to try and watch over Naruto. He is alone like I thought he was, but what I didn't know was how much he was hated for what was in him. I've tried to play the 'naïve new girl' and befriend him, but the moment we get out of class he closes off, and the only time he doesn't is when he asks if I want to go and get some ramen, which I always have to turn him down because I don't want everyone in the village to see that I am back right now. I'm risking it enough by walking to class every day. And if I traveled by rooftop, that would cause even more unwanted attention._

_Besides the two of them, Scarface and Naruto, I've come to dislike almost everyone else of my class. Well, besides the three boys who them to always get themselves in trouble with Naruto, like all sleeping during lectures, pulling off pranks, or ditching class. Oh and the guy with the huge collared jacket and round sunglasses. Can't really hate a guy who only keeps to himself as well as the shy Hyuuga girl. She doesn't say much, but when every I partner up with her she smiles softly and asked harmless questions. What I have noticed is that she goes extremely red whenever Naruto is around._

_Besides them, I'm not really a fan of anyone else in the room. I don't understand what's wrong with the guys, had they not seen a girl with red hair and amber eyes before? … Okay, dumb question, but the stares are still not pleasant when you're trying to be as invisible as possible. The rest of the girls I guess you could alright but scary when agitated. After my first day a flock of them came up to me lead by a blonde and Pinkett (who I've notice constantly fight with each other) and them told me to 'stay away from their Sasuke-kun' the boy that I thought was Obito that morning by the K.I.A. stone and IS an Uchiha, though his sulking and cold eyes gave away what half of the clan he is from._

_I've been talking with Gramps daily after school, catching up on everything I've missed and things that I need to know about, and slowly I'm getting used to the idea of being in this time. They seem to have a better protocol and training regime than before, plus there wasn't been a war since the last, tension yes, but no war. To stay hidden I've been staying that gramps own house, but only at night because the rest of the Sarutobi household stay there as well. Some nights I end up sleeping in a tree or at the K.I.A. stone if I was out too late training._

_But Gramps has been really amazing, letting me stay at his home, giving me money to buy my food, and after he saw my old torn clan clothes. An identical set, which I have yet to wear because we both agreed to wasn't very smart to wear them yet. For now, I'm just wearing a blue top tank with a purple three-quarter shirt underneath that still showed my midriff, so I wear netting under it all to cover the rest and simple black pants. I laughed when grandpa showed them to me because they were still in my clan's colours. And grandpa insisted that I wear my hair in a braid, though it's a little annoying seeing I'm so used to having my hair down, he said something about 'letting people see my face'... Which kinda contradicts what we are doing, but it doesn't look that bad._

_Oh, and what's with all these kids being around eleven years old?! I know I'm already two years older than all of them, but when I was originally at the academy most kids graduated at the age of nine! But apparently you have to be a protege to graduate that young… Or that it was just because the war was going on when I was a child and they needed more shinobis… Yeah, probably that. Oh, and as well, apparently this 'Sasuke' guy is a protege BUT he still hasn't graduated! I get a small laugh out of that. That and how many times Naruto goes off yelling at him, saying how uncool the Uchiha is, which I have to agree with him._

I looked down at what I had written for the day, and I couldn't help by small a little at the ending. The kids nowadays are so weak!

_'That and very arrogant,'_ I thought, resting my chin in my palm as Iruka droned on about something I already knew about. I winced slightly, not enough to notice when my hand accidently put pressure on a sore spot near my mouth. '_Seems that if they can't put their money where their mouth is, they go crying to their chunin big brother.' _I scoffed internally, sending an undisguised death glare to a certain boy who sits two rows in front of me, still making a huge fuss about his 'wound' and 'assassin' who gave it to him, but at the same time trying to look as cool as possible with all his friends, who have mutually agreed on pretending I don't exist. No one asked why either.

Gah, could he make it any further than the truth? And it's a simple cut on his cheek! '_But at least he hasn't told anyone about what I said...'_

-Three days ago-

"Gees, could class go by any slower?" I asked with a sigh after Iruka dismissed the kids after a lesson on the nature of chakra. I love Scarface and all, but if I had to sit through another lesson like that I would end up dropping like a rock instead of just occasionally dozing off like I did today. Luckily next was some close combat taijutsu training, so at least I found have to fight to keep my eyes open, even though I might as well. Hell, that would be better than having to hold back as much as I have too!

'I _wonder what Naruto has for lunch today… Probably ramen,'_ laughing slightly, I began to pack my things into my shoulder bag and grabbed the food I had bought for lunch. When I caught Naruto's eye I gave him a smile and a small wave, which he returned before beginning to stuff his things into his bag, a job that will take at least five minutes before he will give up and bag a good kick.

Laughing again, I return to pack my things in a semi-caring fashion, intending to finish up quickly and then going over to help Naruto, and more so save his bag from its daily abuse. I have nearly done when I was interrupted by someone clearing their throat beside me, clearly wanting my attention for some reason, so I let my eyes roam over whoever it was before frowning, and going back to packing my things.

"What do you want Kimisewa?" annoyance seeped in my voice. I may have only been here for six days, but his jerk had found a way onto my 'top ten assholes' list.

"Ah, ah, ah Kakureta-chan. How many times have I asked for you to call me Ryoke-kun? It's what all my friends call me." and that is how he managed to get on my list so fast, adding _'-chan'_ to the end of my name, and expecting me to not only call him by his first name but with _'-kun'_ tacked on. No thanks.

"And how many times do I have to tell you not to talk so informally with me and that we are not friends," I replied back, making my question really a statement. I narrowed my eyes as Ryoke clicked his tongue and grabbed on of my few remaining notebooks off my desk., making me look at him to retrieve it. His whole look screamed 'annoying rich kid with his common black hair gelled up in the front, matching eyes always looking down his nose, a permanent smug smile and clothes that are probably never even worn twice!

_'Remind me why this kid is trying to be a shinobi again?'_

"Oh come one Kakureta-chan, I'm sure if you give me a chance the two of us can become great _friends_," when he tried to make his voice go lower at the end I couldn't help but roll my eyes and yanked my notebook from his hands.

"Thanks, but no thanks Kimisewa. Something tells me that a friendship between us just won't work. Now if you excuse me," after stuffing the notebook into my bag I tried to shove past to leave, but he and two of his minions stepped in the way. Seeing that I was trying to be corralled I looked around discreetly, seeing that the only people left in the class were Ryoke, minion #1 and #2, Naruto, and myself. Naruto had just finished packing and saw that I was surrounded at my desk, looking worried and a bit confused.

When I was trying to figure out why Naruto was looking confused, Mr. Prissy noticed and looked back at Naruto as well, scoffing. "Ah, you were planning on hanging out with the dead last bumbling idiot again," sitting back casually in the corner of my desk, Ryoke looked back at me as his minion chuckled. "I hear that he has no parents and doesn't even have two ryo to rub together, always running to the Hokage for money, ha!" Ryoke was now looking at his nails as he laughed, and my fingers were starting to itch, wanted so bad to shut his trap. I knew that Naruto could hear every word that this trash was saying.

_'Dammit! If only I didn't have to act so weak! I could have punched his lights out no sweat!'_ instead, I took a deep breath and uncurled my fingers, which I didn't know I had clenched.

"Hey Harmony, ya coming?" Naruto suddenly asked. In his voice, I could already hear the betrayal he felt, but I still waved him off, knowing that Ryoke couldn't possibly be done, and I didn't want Naruto to be around any longer to hear it.

"Yeah, Naruto. I'll be there in a few minutes. You go on ahead." Naruto looked at me and then at Ryoke before sighing.

"Yeah, I get it. See ya," he gave me a wide smile, one that I knew was fake before exiting the room, leaving me alone with the two idiots and their leader.

_'Sorry Naruto.' _I apologize in my mind as he last, but snapped my attention back to Ryoke, who was looking very smug.

"Good riddance is what I say. He's bad luck, and a loser," he scoffed yet again, and I glared.

"Well, I think he's very sweet, misjudged, and a unique person. Is he loud and hyperactive, yes, but very unique. He also tries to make everyone smile and does his best, unlike someone I know."

Ryoke pulled a face when I said that about Naruto. "You actually think he's cool?! Well, here's something about your _friend _that you didn't know about," he jumped off my desk, leaning towards me." My father says that he's cursed, a monster, a demon. And that when he was little his curse drove his parents and anyone who was close to him to all kill themselves. Why else do you think he's alone? Honestly, I don't know why he's been allowed to live as long as he has. I think our old coot of a Hokage should just get the ANBU and get rid of that pest."

Ryoke went on and on, and this time, I didn't bother unclenching my fists, though I fought to keep my fists at my sides and keep my face as neutral as possible. Couldn't let him see my rage.

"Really, me holding my hand out to you is your only salvation. You never know when you'll end up dead because of Naruto," it seemed like Ryoke was finished, leaning on the back of my chair, but he tacked the final straw on. "Oh, and you can't tell anyone about what I told you. Apparently it's all hush-hush, a village secret, even though everyone knows it already."

My covered left eye was now twitching, and I couldn't help but feel sick to my stomach.

_'That… That lil' bastard! Screw being weak! He needs a good dose of fear so he what lines not to ever cross!'_ I screamed internally but then started laughing maniacally when I thought of the perfect way to get his guard down AND wound his pride.

I looked down for a few seconds, letting the shadows of my bangs cover my face, looking as if I was taking all what Ryoke said in, before looking up and giving him my best fake smile, making sure to hide my shaking hands behind my back. If anything, the pose that had to strike to do so made the act all that more believable.

"Really? That's all true?" Ryoke nodded triumphantly, and I looked back to the ground, as if ashamed this time. "Oh… I didn't know. Well, no I guess I should have known something was up with him. No one could be that kind and caring and still have no friends, no matter how obnoxiously loud he is.

Ryoke smirked in agreement when I looked back up at him, and the I 'shyly' looked side-to-side, before leaning closer to him.

"Because you were so kind to warn me about Naruto, and told me some pretty secretive things, so I guess I should return the favour," one of Ryoke eyebrows rose, but he leaned in closer, but motioned for his minions to back off when they began to lean in too. When he got close enough I whispered into his ear.

"You should really stop telling such trashy lies to someone who could kill you, especially when they already know the truth," after that I pushed him away with a bored look and picked up the bag I had left on my chair, ready to leave. "And I can hang out with whoever I want to. And Naruto? He's as harmless as a newborn compared to me."

I threw a flirty wink over my shoulder just to annoy him as I began to walk away, enjoying how red his face had gotten.

"See you in class Kimisewa," flicking my braid over my left shoulder, I turned my back to him, only to have my exit stopped by minion #1 placing his hand on my shoulder, and guessing by his grip, it was supposed to be painful.

"Just who in the hell do you think you are, huh? I hold my hand out to you, and that's how you repay me?! By threatening me?! You ungrateful bitch!" Ryoke exclaimed, and I couldn't help by smile sadistically.

_'Bingo.'_ I grabbed the hand on my right shoulder with my left hand, pulling minion #1 closer, then slammed my foot on one if his. After that I elbowed his nose with my right when he was bent forward, all while still holding on with my left, and then to finish him off I threw him over my shoulder onto the floor, knocking the wind out of his lungs and leaving him dazed with a bloody nose.

Turning back around I had just enough time to duck under minion #2's punch, and then returned the favor by introducing my own fist to his chin. As minion #2 was moving to the side from the force of my punch, I swiftly followed through with a roundhouse kick to se3nd him to where minion #1 was.

_'Too easy,'_ I thought to myself, looking at the two-man-dog-pile, but then noticed some motion out of the side of my eye. _'Oh no, you don't. You the one who started all of this.'_

As I watched Ryoke try to leave by sticking to the walls, I opened one of my weapon pouches grabbed some kunai and threw them at him. The first two stopped just in front of him, making him stop and look at me, and the third sliced right passed him, making a thin line on his cheek appear, bleeding slightly.

"Take this as a warning, a threat, or a declaration of war. Take it any way you want, just leave Naruto and me alone, got it?" I walked up to him and fist pulled out the kunai that had scratched him, holding it under his nose. I held it there until he grabbed and slowly nodded, not taking his eyes the point of the metal. I huffed and slowly put the kunai away, joined by the other two and the left, grabbing my bag and leaving the three there to sort themselves out themselves, not worrying if they were alright or not.

_'They should be. I only used low-level hand-to-hand taijutsu on them, though it may have been a bit advanced for them still. So it will still leave a few bruises… And a bit of blood. Nothing too major.' _even so, a mixture of guilt and fear was beginning to settle itself into the pit of my gut, ruining the satisfaction I had felt briefly.

To push the horrid feelings away from my mind I began to look for Naruto but didn't find him until I walked out the front doors, seeing in sitting on the tree swing, looking downcast. The feelings I had unsuccessfully pushed away made himself apparent again._ 'Shit.'_

"Naruto!" I called out, getting his attention as I trotted up to him. He looked almost shocked that I was walking right up to him, and with a genuine smile on my face. I noticed it took him a second or two to return it, but when he did his smile was real.

"Yo! What took ya so long Harmony?" he asked, standing up and grabbing his cooked instant ramen cup off the ground and chopsticks. I waved it off and leaned against the tree, motioning that he didn't have to stand.

"It was nothing. Kimisewa and his friends just wanted to ask a few questions about something they didn't understand from sensei's lecture. Also, I had a clear up a few things and rumors that he told me. I don't know why he thought they were so true when they were so trashy. Oh, and I didn't mean to be gone for some long. Sorry."

Naruto shook his head and opened the cup, shoving noodles in his mouth. "It'sh nwo problewm." I laughed when he tried to speak with his mouth full and decided to get my own lunch out of my bag, a BLT sandwich, and apple.

We talked, joked, and ate for the rest of the lunch break, but as the bell rang, telling everyone that they had to get back to class, I didn't move from my spot on the tree. Something told me that going back in there where Ryoke was a bad idea and ruin every I had just risked.

"Ya comin'? We got taijutsu training next!" Naruto exclaimed when he noticed that I wasn't moving when he was already halfway to the door. I ran a hand down my braid, feeling all the bumps.

"Na, think I'm going to skip the rest of the day."

"Want me to skip too? I know some pretty awesome places." he adjusted his goggles with a prideful smile, already walking back towards me. I looked out of the side of my eyes, making it look like I was debating on what he said, before turning him down.

"Sorry, how about next time? If we both skip Sensei will probably blame you, and say that 'you're a bad influence on me' or something," internally I chucked.

_'Yeah right. Like Scarface would ever say that. Besides, I'm two years older than him!'_

"Oh, I get it! See ya tomorrow then!" Naruto replied with enthusiasm before taking off, looking over his shoulder as he ran. I laughed a waved at him before walking away from the academy, my own personal hell. it surprised me how close I could get to Naruto without really opening myself to him.

I walked around aimlessly on less populated roads in the village until I reached a grassy hill by a large field and the forest. Having nothing better to do I undid my braid, letting my hair free, and laid down on my back. As I got comfortable in the grass I watched the clouds drift above, humming whatever song came to mind and thinking.

I played there for a few hours, mulling things over before my eyes grew heavy. it was just my luck that two shadows towered over me as I was beginning to drift off, and someone jabbed my ribs with their foot harshly.

"Hey. You the bitch that threatened and insulted my brother?" I opened my right eye to see a teenage version of Ryoke, and Ryoke himself, his smug smile back on his face. I sighed and closed my eye, knowing how this will turn out. I saw his brother's olive green vest and headband. A chunin. Not good for me, but better than having a clan elder standing before me.

"And what if I am?" I replied boredly, and got the reaction I was hoping against, but knew he would do.

"No one threatens a member if the kimisewa family and leaves alive, you fucking low-class freak!"

'_Ouch. Freak huh? Haven't heard that for a while.' _I mused as Ryoke and his brother began to step on, kick and punch me. The only reason I didn't loose my anger and retaliate, or at least defend myself was because if they were the two who were 'punishing' me that means that Ryoke hadn't told anyone else, and wouldn't likely tell anyone after this. So I took it all. A bit of a downside for me was that Ryoke's brother knew how to use chakra in his taijutsu, so when they were finally done and left I was quite bruised up. But not to the point where I needed professional medical attention.

When I got myself up I slowly limped my way back to Gramps house, snuck in like normal, and grabbed some medical cream that I knew would speed up the healing and some leftover food. After I had wrapped myself up to the point where I could easily pass as a mummy I went to my 'room' and went to sleep, waiting to be greeted by the horrors of my imagination.

* * *

The next day I had gone to the academy still bandaged up, but not as much as the night before, refusing to answer anyone's questions, even Iruka when he pulled me aside during break. Luckily, after that Ryoke and his minions didn't bother looking at me, which was a huge relief. By the end of the day, no one bothered asking, even more, even Gramps when I got home and told him that I had trained a bit too hard the night before.

But Naruto was very different and persistent, constantly asking what happened to me, but I kept on telling him 'it was nothing' and 'he has no reason to worry'. He didn't shut up until I had taken him top the dango shop after classes yesterday, but today I still caught him looking worried about me when he thought I wasn't looking.

_'Like right now,'_ I sighed and reminded my hand from my chin and decided to add one last thing to my entry today.

_Even if it means adding a few more bruises to my collection, protecting my family will always be worth it. Even if those bruises are caused by my own lies._


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter shout out! ThexDarkness, stephanieosila, Vallrally

_**I don't own Naruto**_

***video was featured in the previous version of this chapter***

Warning, a part of this chapter kind be considered a little more graphic than normal. It's not crazy blood and gore stuff, but it's more… descriptive than normal.

* * *

'_You cannot kill Iruka. You cannot kill Iruka,'_ I can't in my mind as I ripped another piece of chalk out of my non-braided hair. Iruka had thrown another piece at me when he had noticed that I wasn't paying attention… Again… Though there was nothing for me to do today, even more so than normal. Today was the day of the first stage for the genin exam… So what that meant to me was that all I had and could do was sit at my desk, and try not to disturb anyone, which was still pretty easy for me surprisingly.

With past experience with jackasses, I thought Ryoke would have at least come back in the past few just to 'remind' me who was the boss. Turns out, the threat against him still scared Ryoke shitless and stayed away from me, along with most of the class, and he was probably hoping that I would fail and fall off the edge of the Earth.

'_Not that me passing has really anything to do with me becoming an genin again or not. It all depends on Naruto. He fails and repeats the year, I fail and repeat the year. He passes and gets assigned a team, I pass and get assigned to a team, and try my hardest to keep watch over him from a distance.'_ I said to myself as I twirled a strand of hair out of boredom. Doing that was the only way I would watch over him, but if he was assigned a team, I wouldn't want to be in the way. I just need to watch over him to make sure he will no longer be alone. Gramps and I agree that once Naruto has people that he can fully lean on, and they can lean on him, that I should disappear, and stay out of his life. '_We just don't know what will happen if I stick around Naruto…. Not sure when I may cross paths with someone who still holds a grudge against me.'_

I sighed and rubbed the last painfully and nearly faded bruise on my cheek, one where Ryoke's brother should me how hard he could punch with chakra helping him. '_Now if only Naruto would stop worrying about me. I can't let him get attached.'_ I looked over across the room at said person as Iruka was still going on with his speech, telling us how proud he was, and what we had to do to pass, not necessary in that order. When I looked over I caught Naruto staring at me with a worried frown once again. I smiled and gave him a piece sigh before turning my 'attention' back to Iruka as I began to re-braid my hair, fighting the deathly cold shivers that started to run down my spine.

Looking at and being around Naruto always brought a strange sense of nostalgia, because I felt like I was with Sensei and Kushina again, but today I couldn't handle it, seeing him, them, it reminded me of my latest horror filled nightmare that refused to leave my mind.

* * *

_I was standing in a room, a room without any doors, windows, or lights. it was pitch black. But I knew this room, more than three quarters of my nightmares happened in this room, which, unfortunately, meant that _she _was here was well._

_Trying to tell myself that this was all a dream, not at all real, and to calm down never worked in this room because _she _was too good at her job at overriding the rational part if my mind, and using things at absolutely terrified me, no matter how much I know was not real. Everything in this room was against me, even my own body, taking a deep breath, smelling and tasting the air, even when I had no intention of releasing my breath._

_The air was foul and reached so heavily of rust and iron that it was nearly suffocating and was definitely nauseating making me cough as I retched up what my mind 'thought' was in my stomach, just adding to the smell, and making my balance to waver. I stumbled blindly over to one of the walls and placed a hand on it, trying to steady myself as I leaned into it, but my hand couldn't find any traction on the slippery wall, and I fell to the wet and cold floor. Something deep inside told me that what had made me slip and what covered the all where the same thing, and it wasn't water._

_Now beginning to panic, I tried to stand up, but because the floor was slippery as well, I kept on falling back down and getting covered in what the liquid _was. _On my third try I stumbled as I fell, and landed on something solid but soft in a way piled up on the floor. I turned to see if I could make out what it could be at all, but then as if someone flipped on the switch to the lights, the room was flooded with harsh white light, illuminating everything. The walls looked more like silent blood waterfalls, painting the ground with the dark ruby coloured 'water', and covered all the demanded bodies that litter the ground in scattered piles, just like the one that my back was leaning against, and that I was trying to ignore that one of the bodies had half a face with a purple marking on her cheek and had shoulder length brown hair._

_Trying my best not to scream, but still whimpering, I pushed myself away from the bodies, trying to not recognize the faces, but they were _everywhere_! Some were stabbed, blown up, had bones at weird angles. I looked in the opposite direction when I saw a pair, one with long red hair, the other with spiky blond hair, lying on the floor together, a giant gaping hole in their torsos. After that I saw the body I had leaned against, another crushed, and the last one had one of his eyes ripped out._

"_No, no, no, no, no, no. This is not real. This is not real. It's all in my head, it's not real. This is her doing, not mine," I chanted as I tried to curl up and hide within myself._

"_Oh, this is definitely all your fault, Harmony-chan," the other living person in the room finally said, her, the degraded other me that haunted my dreams all my life. "For once I didn't have to go out of my way to cause this, hehehehehehehehe."_

"_No, no, I-I didn't cause this!" I whimpered, cradling my head with 'painted' hands._

"_Oh… But all of these people would have lived had you not abandon them."_

"_I didn't do that."_

"_Really? The what do you call disappearing in the middle of a war? Had you stayed for even a half hour more, he could have seen another day," I heard the sound of something being forcefully ripped apart, and then something… Someone hitting the floor right next to me. Willing my stomach to stay as calm as it could be I uncurled myself and opened my eyes, staring into the dead coal coloured eyes of Obito, his face splashed with gore and blood, and a few pieces of his esophagus handing out of his ripped neck because it had been stretched slightly._

_Finally screaming, I picked up his head and threw it at the one of the piles with no real aim,, and it had to land on a pile full of other decapitated heads. All at different stages of decaying. I watched in horror as Obito's head adjusted itself so that he was facing me, and opened his mouth as all the other heads opened their lifeless looking eyes, all staring at me_

"_Why did you leave us to die Harmony?"_

"_This is all your fault. All your fault. All your fault," the head began to chat, and the other bodies that still had their head relatively attached join in, slowly crawling and dragging themselves towards me. I tried to block them out and cover my eyes, but the other me knocked my hands away and held a kunai to my throat, laughing maniacally in my ear as she joined in on the chat, joyfully watching as the bodies got closer and closer._

"_All your fault. All your fault! ALL YOUR FAULT!"_

* * *

I jumped when I remember that my lungs needed to release the air that I was holding hostage right now, snapping back into reality, and I quickly finished up my braid like nothing had happened. As a child I had originally thought that after a few years of nightmares I would have gotten used to them and that they would no longer affect me that way that they still do, but it turned out that my imagination was severely against me all the time and created _her_, a psychopathic copy of myself that only made things worse as the fears when on and the horrors I'd seen and heard accumulated. _She_ almost never did anything twice, but it was always in the same room, always played on my most recent or traumatizing fear, and she couldn't have picked a worse, or better, day to show me the lifeless bodies of my own team, even if one of them were still alive to this day.

'_What if the new team I get assigned too, if I do 'pass', I find that I can't trust them? What if they get into a battle? What if they all get killed because of me?!'_ I panic in my mind, all different scenarios flashing through my mind, all ending up with someone in this class staring up at me with eyes just like Obito's, asking' why did I let that happen to them?'.

I sat there for a few minutes as Iruka wrapped up his speech and called the first person down. I stared at everyone that walked into the exam room, wondering how long they will last if they became genins, before I roughly shook my head, trying to get _her_ out of my head and fully snap out of my dream.

'_No one will die. There is no war going on, and Gramps would never assign a genin squad a task where their life is in danger. Besides, if he did, and I was on that squad, I would protect everyone to the best of my abilities, or else I wouldn't be able to call myself a proud kunochi of Konoha,' _trying to reassure myself that what I was doing was right, I looked around again, noticing that practically everyone was calm, probably thinking that they will all pass, but then I saw Naruto. He had his head in his hands, and was freaking out '_Right, the clone jutsu is his absolutely worst. I should go and cheer him up.'_

I got up from my desk and make my way over towards him. He must have head me coming because suddenly he lifted his head and was acting like he was as calm as everyone else.

"Hey Harmony!" he greeted with his wide smile when I got close.

"Hey Naruto, Sasuke" I said with a wave to Naruto, and looked over at Sasuke briefly, getting a 'hn' in return. I nodded blankly at him before taking the seat between the two, facing Naruto.

"Huh? Wha-" Naruto started off, confused.

"Don't worry, I know you'll do great and become an amazing shinobi," I told him, but added something to the end in my mind as I began to stand up again, for Iruka was just called the first person with a 'K' at the beginning of their last name

'_Just like you father and mother were.'_

"Of course I will! You're looking at the future Hokage, ya'know!" I laughed before I heard Iruka call my name.

"I'll see you later, 'kay 'Future Hokage," I said, walking down the aisle to the exam room.

"Yeah, okay! Good luck harmony!" Naruto called after me.

'_Luck has nothing to do with me passing or not Naruto. I just hope you pass, because I really don't want to have to spend another week in this room.'_ I thought to myself as entered the room, and was greeted but the sight of Scarface and another man with shoulder length white hair. He looked familiar to me, but I just couldn't really place him in my memories.

"Good morning Umino-sensei," I gave Iruka a slight bow, but then paused like I was confused, or not sure what to say., "And…"

"Ah, this is Mizuki-sensei, he's a chunin that teaches one of the other graduating classes," Iruka informed me, so I smiled and bowed to Mizuki as well. If Iruka could trust this man to be here for my exam, then I guess I could trust him too… At least a little. The name Mizuki, and his face were still familiar to me, but something told me that if we had known each other as kids, we didn't get along, or we ignored each other.

"Kakureta-san is a recent transfer from Tanigakure in my class," Iruka then informed Mizuki.

"Ah, so that's why I've never seen her at any of the previous exams," Mizuki said to Iruka, but was looking at me the whole time. "Kakureta-chan, could you please make a clone?" I nodded and help my fingers up on the simple hand sign, summoning enough chakra to make two clones, both nearly perfect. One had paler skin and green eyes, while the other was a little too short and too many freckles, but I knew that they were good enough.

Iruka and Mizuki both nodded as they examined my clones. "Very good Kakureta-san, you pass, just remember to keep on practising," Iruka told me with a smile as I walked up to the table that they were sitting behind and picked out a headband.

"Thank you," I bowed again before walking out, placing my headband in one of my larger pockets so it was out of sight. If Naruto didn't pass I didn't want him to see it.

"I should have a few minutes before it's Naruto's turn," mumbling under my breath I made my way slowly out of the building, avoiding the hordes of parents that were either cheering, congratulating, scolding, or comforting the children that have already gone through the exam. With my head down I silently made my way through the crowd till I reached the tree swing.

I sat there for a while, humming random tones with my eyes closed when the sounds of the surrounding parents went hush. _Opening on eye I saw it was because Naruto had exited the building, no headband in hand. 'shit'_

"Over here Naruto!" I called out, standing up, and, waving my hand back and forth to get his attention. He didn't acknowledge me, but he made his way over. When he was beside me he sat down with the swing in between his legs, staring sadly at the crowed.

"Ah, geez, let me guess, you didn't pass?" I asked him, leaning against the tree.

"Hn," he pushed his goggles over his eyes when two moms could be heard, saying that it was a good thing that Naruto did pass. I glared at them before kneeling down.

"Naruto, what's wrong? You can always try again next time."

"I might as well give up. This was my third time. Third," he replied, not looking at me. I raised an eyebrow and moved so I was blocking his sight.

"Who cares if this was your third time. You know, I had an older brother, and guess how many times it took him to pass the stupid genin exam? It took him five tries! But no matter how many time he would fail, he never gave up!"

"So what did he do differently to pass finally?" Naruto asked me, only looking at me slightly. I softened my face and smiled.

"He finally let someone in. All those other times he thought that he could do it all himself and didn't need anyone's help. But by the time I was four and he was fifteen, he was a jounin, and if he really wanted to, he could have become an ANBU, and that was all because he had ambition, but didn't think people as a burden or that they were against him. Though, these were all just stories my parents told me because it all happened before was born, and when I was little my brother was a hero in my eyes. He was sweet, smart, caring, and knew the best ways to make the monsters disappear," I stood up and wiped a small tear away quickly, before looking down at Naruto.

"And you remind me a lot of him, and a few of my friends as well, so I just wanted to let you know that if you ever need somebody, you can always count on me to be there for you, no matter what. You just remember that, got it?"

"Yeah, thanks Harmony," he replied, smiling back.

"That's good," I said and then stretched. "Well, I guess I'll see you around then." I waved at him again before making my way to the training ground. If I was going to spend another year in the room, I need to release a lot of pent up steam.

-3rd POV-

"So, these are the brats that I will be testing?" Kakashi asked as he leafed through the pages that the Hokage had given him. It was in the middle of the night when Kakashi had been summoned, and it had turned out that one of the kids that had failed the first stage had stolen the Forbidden Scroll, but in some way passed and exposed Mizuki as the psychopathic manipulation that he was. '_Naruto Uzumaki… Sasuke Uchiha… And Sakura Haruno. This should be interesting.'_

"Yes, this will be your squad, but there was an odd number of graduates this year, so I am assigning you a fourth member," the Hokage said as he passes Kakashi the fourth paper, smiling as he smoked on his pipe.

"A fourth member? I'm guessing you chose me because-"

"You have experience in a five man squad, yes. And don't worry, I'm sure you will get alone with this girl perfectly fine. Though I doubt that she will call you sensei. She has a weird thing against titles and honorifics."

"Huh, odd child," Kakashi chuckled at that, but his laugh got caught in his throat when he flipped over the page and looked at the name and photo on the paper.

'_Harmony Kakureta.' _Alarmed, Kakashi looked back up at the Hokage, who was still happily smoking his long pipe.

"I know what you are thinking, but that paper was created only one week ago, and only with Harmony's consent."

"But, she die- disappeared thirteen year ago!" Kakashi exclaimed doubtfully, though even after all those years, he still couldn't say that she had died then. He couldn't pay his respects at her grave, but never it out loud.

"Yes, this has both Harmony and I confused. The last thing she remembered was being in that cave, and barely seeing you and Obito running towards her and Rin, but she said that after she woke up she was on the side of the road, a day and a half walk out of the village. After we had talked, and yes, I informed her of the status of all her teammates, she asked to have her rank of chunin temporarily revoked and be placed in the graduating genin class to look after the Fourth's son. But I knew that she just couldn't handle things right away and needed time to get used to this time," the Hokage informed Kakashi, taking the pipe out of his mouth.

"So, this is all real?" Kakashi asked.

"If you want to see it yourself, go to the training grounds. Harmony was there when I sent an ANBU to tell her of Naruto's passing, so she should still be there," Kakashi nodded one and did used the teleportation jutsu quickly, knowing exactly what training ground the Hokage was talking about.

Once Kakashi reached the grounds, it didn't take him long to find her. All he had to do was listen, because Harmony always talked to herself or sang when she trained alone. Hiding up in some large trees, Kakashi peered down at her as she completed a simple set of taijutsu moves.

'_Same red hair, and same odd sense of fashion,'_ Kakashi noted when he saw her, and noticed that she was wearing the necklace he had given her for her twelve birthday, and the three bracelets that Obito, Rin, and Minato had gotten her. The necklace I had gotten her had a crescent moon pendant, and the bracelets had starts on two of them and another crescent moon on the middle, all symbols of her clan.

"It really is her," Kakashi couldn't help but whisper as Harmony stopped to rest a little. She was panting, sweating, and talking.

"Who's there!" Harmony demanded as she turned around, alerted by the noise that Kakashi made, and threw a kunai in his direction for good measure. Shaking his head, Kakashi caught the kunai, but teleported again before Harmony came to investigate.

'_It really is her.'_

* * *

Blegh, I felt kind of nauseous as I wrote the nightmare, and even more so when I got to Obito… Gah, why again did I have to go to that extent? Oh, right, because detail is everything *facepalm*


	8. Chapter 7

**_I don't own Naruto_**

* * *

"So, you think someone in the village, most likely a very skilled jounin, is suspicious of you?" Gramps blew out a small cloud of smoke from his pipe. I nodded as I fiddled with his hat as I leaned against the window, my back to the village.

"I think so. I know someone was watching me two nights ago at the training grounds, a while after Naruto had returned the scroll and you sent that ANBU to let me know what had happened. When I tried to confront who it was, they fled."

"Was that before or after you threw a kunai at them?"

"Uh…" I scratched the side of my cheek and set his hat down on the desk. "It roughly happened all at the same time. And whoever it was, they not only dodged my kunai but took it with them."

"That, or you need to work on your aim some more Harmony," I gave Gramps a slightly withering look.

"Haha, very funny," I retorted back, knowing not to take it personally. Gramps smiled back in return.

"Yes, it was. Now, go, or you'll miss seeing who shall be your new teammates and sensei. And I'll make sure to see who it was who saw you the night before last."

I leaned over and gave him a quick tight hug. "Thank you for doing all of this."

"It's my pleasure Harmony. But you do know that someday you might end up having to reveal your past," he said suddenly, releasing himself from my hold so he could look me in the eyes.

"Why?" I blinked in confusion and put some more space between us. "Didn't we say that if Naruto passed, fully, I would support him from afar, and when we thought that he was no longer alone and could lean on others, I would just disappear, go a couple villages over and restart my life."

"That was one of our plans, your idea, but I still think that you should stay in the village, support Naruto, not from a distance, but up close. And you don't have to leave to have a life again."

I shook my head. "I'm not sure if I could. I still haven't fully accepted what has happened to me, but as long as this place feels unnatural to me, I won't be able to stay." I couldn't help but take a few more steps back and lower my head when I say the disappointed and sad look in his eyes.

"I-I'm sorry. I just can't think about this right now. I need more time to sort things out in my own head…" I did a curt bow from the waist. "I'll be taking my leave now, Hokage-sama." After I straightened my back I fled his office and ran down all of the stars the ran around the outside until my shoes hit the dirt. Then I took a few deep breaths and straightened out my clothes, a variation from the traditional clothes from my clan, and identical to the outfit I had worn before I… Disappeared. A light purple crop jacket that went off my shoulders slightly and had a longer left sleeve that almost hid that hand completely, a powered blue tank top, a long dark blue half skirt with the slit on the right side, black shorts, standard issue shinobi sandals, my legs wrapped up to my knees almost, my hair down for the first time since I arrived, the ends hanging down close to my waist and my bangs covering my left eye slightly. And last but not least. my head band was tied about my hips like a belt, blending into the fabric of the skirt that revealed my whole right leg. I hadn't bothered with putting any of my pouches on today, seeing as they weren't needed, but without them, I almost didn't feel complete.

"Well, there goes nothing," I muttered under my breath as I ran a hand through my free long hair, letting it fall back down to its natural spot before I opened the doors to the academy.

My mind was fairly blank the whole walk to the classroom, not wanting to think about who will be my 'new' teammates, but all of the was shoved clear out of my mind when I opened the sliding door.

"What.. What that hell?" I said out loud when I realized that Naruto and Sasuke's lips were touching like they were kissing. I stood there for a few seconds, shocked before a thought ran through my mind.

_'I really have the worst timing, and Naruto needs to rethink his standards a bit. Maybe go for a guy that actually likes him.'_

I tried to calmly walk over to my desk as Sasuke and Naruto separated yelled, and began to both gag. But internally I couldn't help but laugh as most of the female population in the class tried to protect 'Sasuke-kun's' innocents from Naruto. I did think of going over to help him but just looking at how the girls were acting made me not. I didn't feel like being killed via fan girl.

So instead of watching Naruto get shamelessly beat, I observed the rest of the class, noticing that at least a quarter of my 'classmates' were not here, and had not passed the first stage. Unfortunately. Ryoke was not, and he was sitting in the middle rows, flashing his headband like he was the only one how earned it.

The class was practically chaotic for a few more minutes before Iruka walked into the class with a clipboard. Everyone ran to their seats before Scarface could have know what was going on, and I saw that Naruto was looking a little worse for wear when he finally settled down in his seat with a few new bruises and bumps, but I knew Naruto would be okay

"Good morning class. You should all be very proud of yourselves right now. Starting today, all of you are real shinobis, but you are only genins, so the hard journey that lies ahead has just begun," Iruka started his little speech that all instructors said to the graduating class. "Now, you will soon be assigned missions to help out the village, so today we will create three man squads, but because of the uneven number of who had passed the exam, one squad will be assigned a fourth member. Each squad will have a jounin sensei, and all of you will follow your sensei's instructions in order to successfully complete your missions. And remember, when we assign you to a certain squad, it's to balance out the strength of the squad."

"What!?" many people in the class cried out, obviously thinking that they themselves would be able to pick their teams, but now knew that the might be assigned to be with some people that they didn't like or wasn't their friends.

"Oh settle down, you'll get used to your squad members over time. Now to start off. Squad one, Yakuna Yamura, Hikaru Nataga, and Maxmilian Clemens." The first three looked around and all nodded as new members, accepting who was picked.

"Squad two, Ryoke Kimisewa, Sawako Kajiwara, and Purdie Green," I frowned slightly when I saw Ryoko's smirk. _'Of course, he would be the only guy...'_

"Squad three, Alexina Monday, Utamara Hayuata, and Lev Atterberry," Utamara shouted out 'no' when he was placed with Alexina for some reason.

"Squad four, Eijiro Matsuzawa, Izumi Sasukria and Chikao Yone. Squad five, Keila Eccleston, Lisa Yone, Lazar Bone," The twins, Chikao and Lisa, looked at each other and hugged.

"Squad six, Yoshitora Kawagichi, Kahori Miyoshi, Mako Hatakeda," it was a little odd that there was no reaction from any of the three after their name were called… Weird. It was a little unsettling that I had been not called out, nor had the four-man squad been made.

"Okay… Next is squad 7. Haruno Sakura, Naruto Uzumaki-"

"YEAH!" Naruto jumped up and yelled as Sakura slumped down.

"Sasuke Uchiha-"

"HELL YEAH!" Sakura yelled out as Naruto's face hit the desk.

"And… Harmony Kakureta," I jumped up and accidentally made my hands slap my desk a little too forcefully.

"WHAT?!" I yelled out in shock. I stared at Iruka, demanding an answer for him, but he wouldn't look up from his clipboard._ 'He and Gramps fucking planned this!'_ I was still standing until I realized that everyone was looking up at me, so I slowly slinked back into my desk and laid my head on my desk, trying to pretend that I was invisible and that nothing had happened.

"Okay, continuing on. Squad eight, Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka. Squad 10, Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimiki," because my head was being introduced to my desk again, I wasn't able to see any of their reactions, but going by how little noise there was after squad 7, everyone was happy, at least a little, with their squads. Unlike me right now.

_'I am seriously going to have a lengthy talk with Gramps, Hokage or not.'_ I thought to myself as Iruka was saying that after lunch we would meet our new senseis after lunch and that we could go for a break. I stayed at my seat, even when Iruka came over, after everyone had left, to see how I was.

"I'm fine Scarface. Just please let me rage internally alone," He sighed before saying that he would come back in five minutes. After he had left I lifted one of my hands and showed on of the roof's corners the middle finger because I knew that Gramps would be looking in with magic crystal ball.

_'Everything better not go downhill from here if I decide to go along with this. Damn you Gramps. Damn you.'_

-FF-

So a while after I silently raged internally and all the other squads had met their senseis, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and I were all staring boredly at the door, awaiting ours, who was at least forty-five minutes late. Well, Naruto was actually poking his head out into the hall very fifteen seconds, but still, we were all waiting.

"Naruto, just sit down or something," Sakura told him as she leaned against one of the benches in the front.

"Why does our sensei have to be so damn late! All the other teams have gone with their senseis, and Iruka-sensei had also left," Naruto grumbled, pulling his back into the room. I couldn't help but think that Naruto had a point to be slightly angry._ 'It's almost as if Obito was our sensei.'_ I let out a little humorless chuckle at that, but doing so made at other three turn to look at me, so I turned my head away and towards the window.

I didn't turn my head when I heard someone move and sit down next to me. "What's funny?" Sakura asked, obviously trying to fill up the time talking to the only other female genin. I tilted my head slightly to look at her through the corner of my eyes before looking back outside.

"It's nothing. It's just that our sensei reminds me a lot of a childhood friend of mine who was always late," offhandedly I said this, not really wanting to talk all that much. I couldn't get attached to any of these kids, which was going to be a little difficult with Naruto, who had already tried to pester me after they got back from break.

"Really? What is their name?" Sakura asked hopefully.

"He's no one."

"Oh… I see," Sakura replied, finally understanding that I wasn't in a talking mood, so she got up and, I think, moved back to her original spot. "Hey! What are you doing Naruto?!"

Unfortunately, this got my curiosity so I turned to see what was going on.

"Hihihihi, that's what you get for being late," Naruto chuckled as he finished jabbing the chalk eraser in the slightly open door to 'punish' our sensei, then jumping down to the ground.

"Pfft, like a jounin would fall for that," Sasuke said, and I could _hear_ the smirk that he was hiding behind his intertwined fingers.

_'You would be surprised,'_ I thought to myself as I looked to the door again when I sensed someone there. I watched as whoever it place their fingers around the doors edge and began to pull it back.

Now, a normal person would sit with a little suspense to see if someone did fall for the childish prank, but I felt all the blood in my body run cold and my heartbeat suddenly spike when they stuck their head through the opening, letting the eraser bounce off his head and then land on the floor.

"My first impression of your four is… You're all idiots."

-On the roof-

Even though at least ten minutes had gone by, I couldn't help but start at the man before me. Even if he had thirteen years to mature, I would have recognized him and his voice anywhere. If I was standing in a field filled with a thousand other people, I would always be able to pick Kakashi out. And that fact made me feel very torn inside. This was still Kakashi, my best friend, the one that shared so many memories with me, but he had all grown up and most likely changed… Maybe even accepted that I had 'died' and moved on.

_'But then again… If he had then why is he assigned to this team? Wait! Did Gramps tell him that I was back?! What is going on here?!'_ I was beginning to feel even more torn about this, not knowing what I was doing right now. So many things were conflicting right now, and I was so deep in thought that I hadn't noticed that we had stopped walking and that Naruto was waving a hand in front of my face.

"OI! Earth to Harmony! We're introducing ourselves!" Naruto said when he noticed that I had come too. I blinked a few times and looked around, seeing that Sakura and Sasuke were looking a little weirdly at me and Kakashi… He was just looking bored.

"Oh… 'kay, right, sorry," I mumbled as I took my seat next to Naruto.

"Well, seeing as our fourth member is finally back with us, let's begin," Kakashi said, his voice only muffled ever so slightly because he still wore his mask. I also noticed that he wore his headband so it covered his left eye.

_'Now that I think about it. Even though it's foggy, when he and Obito were running to save Rin and I, he had the same eye bandaged. I wonder if it never healed right, even with medical ninjutsu. But that would mean the wound would have to be so serious that it would be unchangeable, like losing his eye instead of the skin being damaged'_

"What do you want to know sensei?" Sakura questioned. I wasn't thinking when I opened my mouth.

"He means you likes, your dislikes, dreams for the future, and hobbies. Simple things," I rested my chin in my hand as I said this, and looked away from everyone so I wouldn't see their reaction.

"Hey, hey. Why don't you introduce yourself to us first?"

"Yeah, you look kinda suspicious…" commented Naruto and Sakura, and as always, I noticed that Sasuke stayed silent still.

"Oh.. Me? Well, my name is Kakashi Hatake. I have many likes and dislikes, I don't think I want to tell you four my dreams for the future. And as or hobbies…" he shrugged. "I have lots."

"All we learned was his name!" Sakura whispered, clearly not happy.

"Now it's your turn, let's start on the left," Kakashi pointed to Naruto, who I was sitting to left of, so I would probably be picked to go next. Naruto started to go off about ramen, pranks, hating to have to wait for the ramen to cook, and about him becoming Hokage because then people would have to acknowledge him finally.

I knew that his dream stuck a nerve in both Kakashi and I for numerous reasons, but Kakashi played it off better than I did.

"Interesting. Now you, with the red hair," he pointed at me, looking as if he could care less. I took a breath to collect myself slightly before beginning.

"My name is Harmony Kakureta, a new transfer student here. I like to draw, play music, eat strawberries, and this village very much. Everyone is so welcoming," I said with my best smile, but then it fell a little. "I dislike nosey people, tattoos, snakes, rats, and the fact that the last time I was in a rough spot I ran away like a scared mutt. My dream for the future is to rediscover the past. And I have to say my favourite hobby is annoying an old friend of mine who likes to act like he doesn't know me," the last part was a little jab at Kakashi, just to see how he would react, but he once again brushed it off.

After I was finished Sasuke went, and it was very depressing and dark. Though the fact that the entire Uchiha clan had been wiped out, and that he was going to kill a certain man for some reason actually scared me. _'Who in their right mind would even think about attacking the Uchiha's?! And succeed?! Geez, I'm gone for thirteen years and the world has turned on its head!'_

And lastly went Sakura, who I could barely hear over her squealing as she tried to explain her likes and dreams for the future. I let out a sad sigh and shook my head. _'Extreme fan girls...'_

"Well, it seems that everyone has different personalities, this should be interesting," Kakashi said, wrapping up the introductions. "Tomorrow we'll start our duties as shinobis."

"Yeah! What kind of duties!?"

"Before we can get to that, first we are going to do something with just the four, I mean five, of us."

"What is it? What is it?"

"Survival training," Kakashi answered Naruto's enthusiasm. "And this won't be any of the normal training you did in the academy. This time, I'm your opponent." then he began to laugh lightly, and I must say, it sounded quite evil.

_'You know… He seems a lot more in-tune with his emotions like he was when we were really young. He doesn't give a cold and strict vibe that much anymore..'_ I mused over as Sakura asked what was so funny.

"Um. Well, it's just that… When I tell you this, you guys are totally going to freak out," he said, still laughing slightly, and his right eye was now closed in what I thought was amusement.

_'Why would we freak out? It's just survival training- Oh! He's going to pull a Gramps move to test us.'_

"Out of the twenty-eight graduates, only nine will be chosen to become genin. The rest will be sent back to the academy," as he said this his voice got lower and he leaned in, so a shadows covered most of his face, making the entire effect much more dramatic. "The training is a very difficult exam with a failure rate if over sixty-five percent!"

I have to say, looking at the other three's faces after being told this, Naruto's panic and freak out face were the funniest, though it looked like he was going to pass out. And Sasuke's was the most boring, the only way you could see that he was a little freaked was that his intertwined fingers clench slightly and he was now glaring more.

Kakashi stayed silent for a few seconds, looking at everyone's reaction, just as I was, before laughing. "Hahaha! I told you'd freak out! Haha!"

"WHAT?! NO WAY! BUT WE WORKED SO HARD! THEN WHAT WAS THE POINT OF GRADUATING?!"

_'And when you sit next to Naruto, what's the point trying to save what little hearing you have left…._'

"Oh, that? That was just to select those who have the chance to become genin… Anyway," Kakashi continued on, ignoring Naruto shout. "Tomorrow you have to show your real skills on the training ground. Bring all the shinobi tools you have. Oh… And skip breakfast, you might end up throwing up."

I internally scoffed. _'Lie'_ I thought to myself as Kakashi handed each of us a paper with the details. I studied him when he handed me one, but he once again acted as if there was nothing wrong or amiss. _'Does he seriously not know?'_

"Oh, and don't be late tomorrow," was the last thing he said to all of us before using a transportation jutsu and 'poofing' away.

"Well, this is going to be interesting," I said as I read what was written. And I was right, he was pulling a Gramps on us. I looked at the other three and saw that they were in their own little words, so I didn't bother to say anything to them and left.

_'Now, let's go have that talk.'_

-ff-

"God damn... It! Important elder... Meeting.. My ass!" I panted as I wiped some sweat from my brows. In front of my laid what use to be a human sized wood block used for taijutsu training, but after venting my anger on it or a few hours, it had been reduced to a spindled 3-inch stub. But to be fair, I had used some chakra when I wanted to feel the wood cave, and some light paper bombs when what Gramp's said to me ran once again though my head.

_"I'm really sorry Harmony, but I think this is for the best,' he stood up from behind his desk and began to make his way to the door, his hands folded behind his back. 'And I really wish I had some time to spare to make you see clearly, but the other elders wanted to hold an important meeting regarding patrols.' _

I growled under my breath and pushed some hair that escaped my ponytail and feel on my face away, before kicking a larger piece of splintered wood, sending it into the forest.

"He wouldn't even tell me if he had spoken to Kakashi or not! That god damn old man is doing this on purpose!" I yelled as I watched the wood fly. "If Minato-sensei, Kushina, Obito and Rin had seen how you were acting, they would have had a fit,_ Hokage-sama_!'

_'No, they would probably not only agree with him but go along with.'_ the calm sane part of me put her two-cents in, making my eyebrow twitch.

"Yes, they would. But I TOLD HIM I. WASN'T. READY!" I shouted back, in one of the few rare moments where I was truly pissed off. I didn't really know why, but when I was this angry I always had a 'conscious' and a very active one, one I could even hold a conversation with. Though I ended up just chalking it up to it being a caused by my clan's cursed insanity.

_'Try to calm down and breath. He's only thinking of what's best for you.'_

"Ha, yeah right," snarling, I stomped up to the K.I.A. stone and knelt down. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, silently praying and trying to calm myself down, because really, I can't think when I'm pissed.

"Oh, and Sasuke, you can stop hiding in now. I know you're there," I spoke loudly, but kept my pose. I had sensed him arrive a little bit ago, but once again, when I'm pissed I can't think, so I just let him be.

When he tried to play it off that he wasn't there to see if he could fool me I swore once again, before throwing a shuriken in the direction he was hiding in, and making him leave the tree he was squatting on to dodge, and into plain sight.

"Really Sasuke, it's not polite to spy on someone when their venting, and then ignore them. If anything, you could have just stop hiding and train with me, because as you can see, I am now in need of a sparring partner," I said as I got up and look at him, and smirked when he limped over to what was left of the wooden block. But then I glared and crossed my arms. "Now, seeing as we are both out in the open, why don't you answer a few questions of mine. Why are you here? And how much of my rant did you hear?"

"Hn," he said, glaring back at me. I sighed and shook my head.

"Seriously, you won't answers those? That makes me feel like you have something to hide," I moved like I was going to take a step towards him, but instead when he moved his body more defensively, I flash-stepped so I could appear right behind him. "Don't you dare try anything, Uchiha. I could beat you in ten seconds flat." I said calmly into his ear like it was a statement, not a threat."

I took a quick leap back when he whirled around, taking the kunai he had reached to grab with me. I pointed the sharp tool at him. "Now, I am trusting you to leave and not say a thing about tonight. Actually, just forget that you even came to the training grounds tonight."

Sasuke scoffed and placed his hands in his pockets, but was still glaring and eyeing the kunai I was pointing at him. "Who are Minato, Kushina, Obito and Rin?" that was the first thing he said to me. My eyes widen slightly before my glare darkened.

"None of your damn concern," I threw the kunai, imbedding itself in the ground 10 cm from his feet, before I walked into the forest, leaving Sasuke where he was. When I was in the foliage I jumped onto a near by branch and ran through the trees until I got to the other end of the training grounds. Then I traveled by rooftop silently to Gramps home.

"Fuck, I really should have just kept my mouth shut. Now he's doing to seriously now something is up," I slapped my forehead as I leap across an opening.

_'Yeah, it's probably best if you did.'_

"You shut up."


	9. Chapter 8

**_I don't own Naruto_**

* * *

_'God damn alarm clock, deciding to go off the moment I finally find some peaceful sleep,'_ I grumbled in my mind as I picked up some large splinters of wood, evidence of my training the night before. Because of the incident with Sasuke, I had forgotten to fix my mess, so I had to set my alarm clock to make sure I would have enough time before my 'teammates' showed up.

I was in a bit of a foul mood from lack of sleep because all my weapons were taken when I was kidnapped, so were my sleeping pills Tsunade gave me. But I knew that after a bit I would be fine. I've had troubles sleeping ever since I was little, mostly when I was indoors. But whenever I was on a mission and sleeping outdoors, I would be fine. But because of seeing my brother and grandfather in a puddle of blood, my troubles with sleeping increased tenfold, and my nightmares began.

_'The one of many'_ I thought as I picked up the last piece and tossed it so it landed in the forest, my stomach growling in protest. I rolled my eyes and tried to not think of the food I wish I was eating. I found it a little odd that Fang had said not to eat and arrive so early. From what I could tell he was going to make us do the bell test, which Gramps had often told me about, and how no matter how many times he made his students do it, my uncle would always be tied to the stump.

_'But Gramps never made them go without eating...'_ I thought as I walked over and leaned against in of the stumps. But because I've known Kakashi since I was five, and for the longest time rules were the most important thing to him, I decided to play it safe and not eat, though normally I would have brought my breakfast and have it right in front of him in spite. _'But if the rules were still so important to him, why did he take so long to arrive yesterday. Normally he would have been the first one to show up.'_

"He's been acting so weird, why?' I wondered out loud.

"Who's been acting weird?" I jumped up straight when someone spoke behind me. I whirled around and saw that it was Naruto, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, who spoke. Sakura and Sasuke were beside him, looking just as tired as he was. I had been so wrapped up I hadn't noticed the three when they walked up to me, but I noticed that Kakashi was not with them.

"It's nothing. Just thinking of an old friend," I told Naruto and Sakura, as Sasuke moved a few feet away and sat down. "How long have you guys been here?"

Sakura looked at Naruto, who shrugged. She sighed and shook her head at him before looking back at me. "About half an hour? When did you get here? The three of us all got here at the same time, but you were already here."

I tilted my head to the side. I must have really been lost in my thoughts, but it was odd that for the second day in a row that Kakashi was late. "About fifteen minutes before you guys. I thought it would be best to get here a little early, but looks like it was for nothing." I shrugged at the end, and Naruto muttered something rude under his breath, making Sakura punch him to shut him up, which didn't go over so well with Naruto because he yelled at Sakura, which caused Sakura to get even more frustrated with him and chase him as Naruto ran away from her, Sakura's fist ready to strike the whole time.

I moved over to where Sasuke was sitting and joined him on the ground, all while never taking my eyes off Naruto and Sakura. It was all very entertaining to watch in a way, like an improv comedy showing that the village used to have a couple times a month to give the people at least a reason to smile during the war.

_'I wonder if they still do them occasionally..._' I wondered to myself as I watched the two, Sasuke not saying anything to me, but I'm guessing was glaring. We sat in silence for about a good hour and a half, just watching our two comedians as the played themselves out, before I finally spoke.

"Look, I'm sorry about last night. I wasn't expecting anyone being on the training grounds last night that late, so seeing you put my on guard and made my act kind of like a psychopathic bitch when it shouldn't have. I mean, we're 'teammates' now, so we shouldn't threaten each other that way I did," I tried to explain. In return Sasuke 'hn'-ed, but didn't say anything. When I turned to see if he was still looking at the comedians as I was, I saw that his attention was somewhere else. It was on the spot where I had been training last night, though I had made sure that all evidence of that was gone... Well, all physical evidence.

Sighing, I placed my chin in a hand. "I had to get up a little early to clean it all up. And if it helps, I lied about how much of it I did myself. I used a few light paper bombs on it to block out my thoughts."

"Whatever," Sasuke finally said, but as if he was almost looking down and making fun of me. I waited for half a minute for him to maybe say more, but he just kept quiet.

_'He doesn't believe me,'_ sighing, I dropped my hand, pulled up my legs and rested my chin on my knees instead. _'There's no telling what he would say if he told someone. I have to do something to convince him to keep his curiosity at bay...'_ I slammed my forehead on my knees.

_'There's only one way to do that, though, bargaining. Fuck.'_

"Okay, here's the deal. As an apology, and a promise that you won't tell anyone about what happened last night. I'll let you ask any questions that you want, and I will answer them as truthfully as I can. I can't tell you everything though." My head was still resting on my knees, knowing I was going to regret this, but this was the only way to keep him from questioning later.

"How many?" I couldn't help but smile a little _'Got you Uchiha.'_

"Five."

"Hn."

Shrugging, I finally looked up at him, "Take it or leave it, Uchiha."

"Where are really from?" he asked, finally looking, or glaring, at me.

"Originally, I was from a village close to the Otogakure*, but my family left when I was a baby. Since then I grew up close to Konohagakure, but then I moved to Tanigakure. And now I'm here."

"Fine. What rank are you? A normal genin can't sense someone and move so fast."

I blinked a few times before talking. "That's the most I've heard you ever say at once voluntarily, well besides when we were doing the whole introduction thing," Sasuke glare hardened, and I threw my hands up in defense. "Okay! I'll answer... Hmmm, I guess you could say a high ranked genin, and maybe pull off a chunin." Sasuke's eyes widen slightly, but I quickly added something before he could say anything, or call my bluff.

"But I was being trained for years back in Tanigakure, and I had a personal, eccentric, sensei. But because the education and ranking is slightly different here, I'm just a simple genin, just like the rest of the ones that passed the exam," I shivered slightly when the most eccentric person I know came to mine, and from what I've heard from Gramps, he was now a sensei with his own team. _'God, I pity his squad... Hope his students can handle his 'youthfulness'.'_

He was still staring at me with slightly wide eyes when I shrugged again. "Next question?"

"How old are you?"

"I just turned thirteen right before I entered your class. We don't get to enter our academy to train a full year before someone here can." I answered simply, surprised that he would ask for my age. But I don't think he was all the surprised that I was year older than he was, because he wasted no time before asking his fourth.

"Who are Rin, Obito, Minato, and Kushina?"

_'Crap!' _I rubbed the pendant of my necklace and with the other hand pushed my bangs behind me ear, old nervous ticks. _'I knew he was going to ask that question again, just to see if I answer it this time. Damn it!' _I took a deep breath, knowing had no chance if I wanted him to stay quiet later. But I have to twist this one more than the rest, because if I didn't, it would give away everything.

"Rin and Obito were friends of mine back in Tanigakure. They were in my class for a few years, and Minato was the brother of my sensei, the calmer of the two. I got really close to him, and he became like an uncle to me. Kushina was his wife. When I wasn't training, in class, or hanging out with Rin and Obito, I was with them. But when something happened to all of them, the leader of my village thought it would be best if I left. It's a small village, so there was not much he could have done to help me get over the trauma."

"What happened?"

"They were killed, every one of them. But not all at once, but within the time span of two years. They kept on taking on too dangerous of missions and ended up biting more than they could chew," I finished, not looking at Sasuke, my hair creating some sort of red wall between us. "It's funny, you remind me a bit of Obito because of you eyes and hair, but Naruto has nearly the same personality, and is a mirror image of my sensei's brother. Karma really is a bitch, isn't it?" I let a small sad laugh escape as my eyes turned to the sky, my fingers still rubbing the pendant that Fang had given me.

Sasuke was silent for a little bit, and I was grateful for it. Maybe me telling all of this reminded him of how he too really had no more loved ones. It was heartbreaking, to say the least, and the very day I was reminded of the pain. And I had no doubt that he was reminded just as much as I was of his own.

"How come... When you saw our sensei, you looking like you saw a ghost?" He asked slowly, breaking our silence filled with past pains, and for some reason, I couldn't help but laugh a little. I turned and gave him a small smirk with a shrug.

"Can't say Sasuke. I've already answered your five questions. Maybe some other day I'll tell you," with that I slowly got up and stretched my arms over my head and sighed, seeing what looked like a bloody lump of flesh with a mop of blonde hair on the ground about thirty feet from us with a still enrages pinkette standing over it. "I guess I should go and help Naruto before Sakura killed him, shouldn't I? I'm not sure if our _sensei_ will be too happy is one of our teammates ends up dead on the first day."

Sasuke simply shrugged and looked away from me, a scowl on his face, but I saw the look in his eyes before he turned. _'I don't think he'll be harassing me for any more questions anytime soon... Unless I give him more reasons to be curious, which I don't plan to. Though I've always wondered how many times someone could lie to an Uchiha before they became too suspicious. But I know for sure that Rin would have my head if she heard how many lies I just told.'_

"Sakura, I don't think it's wise to kill one of your teammates right off the bat," I told her as I walked over to them and tried to scrap Naruto off the ground. "And frankly, it's going to be extremely annoying if we have to go through this every day."

"Why you!" she growled, and I had to drop Naruto and duck to avoid the punch she swung at me.

"Whoa, calm down Sakura. Calm down!" I yelled as I had to continually dodged her attacks, but never struck back. Over time, I began smiling at her tries and starting laughing as I forced her to play a game of tag in a way. At first, it enraged her more and her hits got wild, but then she slowly started to smile as well, but still tried to hit me.

_'You know, if Kakashi ever gets around to meeting us here and trains her properly, Sakura could end up being a very skilled kunoichi on the battlefield.'_ I thought to myself as she managed to land one on my arm, but it wasn't very hard and I knew there wouldn't be any bruising.

"Hey, try widening your stance a bit, with your dominant foot in front to steady yourself, like this," I showed her a proper stance.

"Like this?" Sakura asked as she tried to mimic me. I nodded but pushed her feet a little wider apart to get them to the correct stance.

"Mhm, this way you can put more force into your punches. It's also makes it easy to get into a counter or defensive stance after. Here, try and hit me again," I got into my stance as well. Sakura swung at me again, and this time after I ducked under I went into a crouch and swung out one of my legs, sweeping her feet out from under her, but I stopped short, letting her catch up to what I did.

"A good way to stop someone from disarming you this was is to obviously duck, but I prefer to jump so I end up behind them, that way you can strike back before they can center themselves again," Sakura followed what I said and tried to get behind me when I stood up, but she ended up messing up, so I stopped and helped her correct so she could attack properly.

We went on like that for another two hours, the whole time just practised sparring and me correcting her when she messed up. About half way through Naruto finally regained conscious, and after watching for about ten minutes decided to join in with us, but he was more rambunctious, and wouldn't listen as much, so I ended up having to _personally_ show him what to do when in a real sparring match. After that he went over and sat near Sasuke, sulking and nursing his once again soar head.

"Okay, I think we should call it quits," I said as I dropped my stance. Sakura smiled and dropped her's too, before fixing her slightly messed up hair and rubbing the dirt off her face. I ran a hand through mine when my bangs got in the way but kept it down. We didn't say anything, just nodded our heads before we joined the boys and sat down.

_'Where in the hell is Kakashi?!'_ I looked around with a frown. Not only was he late, it was by numerous hours. I could chalk up yesterday as a rare occurrence, a fluke, but to be this late two days in a row meant that something was wrong. And it bothered me deeply enough to put me back into the foul mood I was in much earlier. _'Fang does 'do' late.'_

"How long do ya think it will take him to show up?" Naruto asked. I shrugged and pulled out my journal, a frown still on my face.

"Don't know," I replied, a little bit of venom in my voice, and turned to a black page. If he was going to make us wait for an even longer amount of time, I might as well use to write down the latest developments.

"I really hope this doesn't continue. It's not very good if a sensei keeps his new students waiting like this," Sakura pointed out, clearly not happy at all about having to wait for so long.

"No, no it is not. It's also breaking an unspoken rule for shinobi to be on time for important things," I explained without looking up. We sat there for little for another two hours, Sasuke and I was not saying anything as Sakura and Naruto continued their grumbling. But I did often agree or disagree with them in my mind.

_'Who is ever late by six hours?!'_ I growled in my mind when Kakashi finally did show up and was greeted by the shouts of Naruto and Sakura, pointing out the redundant fact.

"Sorry, a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take a long way here," Kakashi said with what I could only assume was his 'I'm so not sorry' smile. Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke were still glaring at him as they stood up, but I tried to keep my face emotionless as I joined them.

"That's one of the worst lies I have ever heard, __sensei_,"_ adding my disapproval on his new title. "Who knew you were the type to sleep in, and so late. I really hope this is not a recurring habit of yours."

_'That excuse was right out of Obito's book. But the only reason we believed him half the times was because we knew he was that kind of person, and that it happened every single day.'_ I thoughts as I carefully watched Kakashi place an alarm clock on one of the three posts that we were still close to before.

"Okay, this clock has a timer set for noon," he explained as he pressed the alarm button down, then pulled out two little silver bells. "Here are two bells. Your task is to take these from me before the time's up. Those who don't have a bell by noon, get no lunch. I'll not only the two of you to one of those posts, but I'll also eat right in front of you."

_'Wait... So that's why he told us not to eat?!'_ my stomach, just like the other three, growled at the thought. _'That's too mean! Gramps never even did that!'_

"You only have to get one bell. There are only two, so two of you will definitely be tied to the posts. And, the people who don't take a bell fails. So at least two of you will be sent back to the academy,' my anger was pushed back by the shock of how quickly dark he spoke as he continued his explanation, and then how he equally quickly returned to her nearly bored expressions. "If you want you can use shurikens and kunais. You won't succeed unless you come at me intending to kill."

"But you'll be in danger!" Sakura exclaimed, and Naruto just laughed and folded his arms behind his head.

"Yeah, you're so slow, you can't even dodge a blackboard eraser! We'll definitely kill you!"

_'What delusional planet are you from? Even when Fang was a chunin he couldn't probably take you down with both arms tied behind his back!'_ I rolled my eyes and then bit my tongue. _'Dammit! Damn loyalty. I'm supposed to be mad at him, not complimenting!'_

"In the real world, those with no talent often bark the loudest. Well... Ignore Mr. dead last and start when I say-"I didn't even think when I say Naruto grab on of his kunai and aimed at Kakashi. I spun around and wrapped my arm around him, putting Naruto in a headlock, then I grabbed his hand and twisted it so it was pointing the tip of his own weapon to his neck. I blinked a few times a second after I had done so a frowned again, but didn't let him go. _'God damn loyalty!'_

"W-What?! How?! Harmony?!" Naruto gasped in shock.

"Thank you Harmony, though I could have done that myself," Kakashi said from his spot a few feet away from us still. I nodded my head and released Naruto.

"What's the rush Naruto?" I asked as I let go of his head. "He hasn't even said start yet." I took a few steps away from Naruto and let out a nervous chuckle.

"And sorry. I didn't think before I moved, but that was some killer intent you had there, Naruto," I gave him a thumbs up, and wince internally at the looks that Sasuke and Sakura were giving me.

"I have to agree with Harmony on that. it seems you're finally prepared to come at me with the intent to kill. So you've finally acknowledged me?" Kakashi looked at the four of us and let out a small chuckle. "Hehe, it seems like I'm beginning to like you guys."

The other three cracked a small smile at that and then got into ready stance's when Kakashi spoke again. "Okay, let's get going. Read... BEGIN!" He yelled as the four of us jumped off into different directions, and started the trial to prove our worth in this new world.

* * *

_Otogakure_* - Hidden Village of the Sound. But her family left before the war and long before Orochimaru took over/created his village. In this story, it's the original village of the Katureta Merodi clan, before their curse drove them to near extension. I'll go into more details later in the story.


	10. Chapter 9

_'The basic rule of the shinobi is to able to hide yourself in the surrounding,'_ I thought to myself as I crouched on a branch halfway up on a fair side tree, making sure to keep my hair out of the sun. The downside to having such vibrate hair is that it stands out against the foliage. A little bit to my left I heard a rustle of leave. Looking over I could easily spot Sasuke through the branches, and just below him hiding in the bushes was the tiniest pink of pink hair. Fan girls are one of the few things I truly do not like, but I guess I will have to endure having one on a team, if I'm on this team for very long. That or teach her how to properly hide herself, as well as simple hand-to-hand taijutsu.

_'We may all be in the same area, but it does not look like the other two are thinking about working together,' _I noticed how both of them had their eyes trained on Kakashi, instead of trying to collaborate on a plan. Rolling my eyes, I silently jumped to the branch just above Sasuke's. He flinched when I did so, but didn't acknowledge I was there, so I sat down and gently tapped him on the back of the head.

"Oi, Sasuke, you do know that the only chance we, as genins, have to take those bells from a joinin, is for use to work as a team," I whispered to him when I finally caught his attention. But all he did was glare at me and rub the back of his head.

"I don't care if you really are a chunin or now. Stay out of my way, you ginger-baka."

_'Oh hell no! That little jerk did not just say that! He needs some manners drilled into his smug brain!" _I was just about to jump down a teach him a lesson, but then I got distracted by the sight of Naruto, my genius sensei's son standing in the middle of the open field yelling at the top of his lungs for Kakashi for to fight him.

"Umm... You're a bit off, aren't you?" Kakashi questioned as Naruto began to yell at him.

"The only thing a bit off is your hair cut!" I watched as Kakashi reach for something as he continued to talk. "Shinobi fighting lesson number one, taijutsu. I'll teach you about it."

_'What is he reaching for. He doesn't need to use a weapon on these three. And if Naruto pulled one on him, Kakashi could easily deflect all of Naruto's attack with the metal plates on the back of his gloves...'_

_"_What the fuck is that?!" I nearly yelled when I saw pulled out an orange book with an age restriction on the back. _'Did he turn into some sort of pervert or something?!'_

I couldn't help my opinion of Kakashi fall drastically as I saw him 'teach' Naruto taijutsu, ending with Kakashi sticking his fingers up Naruto's ass as he yelled "Konohagkure ancient taijutsu supreme technique 'A thousand years of Pain!'." And sending Naruto flying into the pond close by. Around the same time, I put my palm over my eyes from the sheer stupidity of what was going on, and just relied on my hearing. Which didn't stop me from knowing how stupid things were at that moment.

By the point that Naruto punched his own shadow clone, which Kakashi substituted with, I had heard enough and jumped out the tree and made my way closer to the tree where I knew Kakashi would set a trap for Naruto. I got there in time to have a prime view of Naruto bouncing up and down, feet tied to a tree, upside-down, failing like a fish. Not even Obito had fallen for that trick.

"Think before using a jutsu. Or it will be used against you." Kakashi said as he picked the bell up from the ground. "Also, shinobi should see through all types of deception. Idiot."

"I know all that stuff!" Naruto shouted back, but Kakashi responded in a tone that oozed 'I am better than you, and I know it'. Which was also the tone that I associated with solely him for a majority of our friendship with Obito. It actually set me at ease seeing that part of him again, because lately I've felt like I was seeing someone I didn't know.

"I'm telling you this because you don't."

"Fa-!" I nearly screamed out from my spot un the trees as I watched several kunia and shuriken imbed themselves into Kakashi's face a neck. I know he wasn't stupid enough to be actually hit, but the genjutsu he must have casted at the same moment was too real. I had seen too many good people die the exact same way in the war to know how to see between a fake and real death.

After the disguise on the substituted log wore off, revealing Kakashi's second trap to get Sasuke, and in turn Sakura, to reveal their hiding spots. Both Sasuke and Sakura ran off to go and find new hiding spots.

_'I think I may have to go and find one as well, because I may have given my spot away as well. Though, Sasuke was more likely to have thrown those weapons, so he'll be next on Kakashi's hit list. And Sakura shortly after because she'll be probably very close by again.'_

Deciding it was safe to approach Naruto as he was cutting the road free, I slowly walked up to him.

"Damn it! I'm not going to fall for his stupid traps again!" he yelled as he righted himself in the air, only to land on another trap and get strung back up upside-down. "Dammit! The exact same trap! Right under me!"

"You know, things may work out better if we team up Naruto," smiling I leapt up to the branch there the rope was tied too, and cut him loose, only for him to this time to land on his head. "I know neither one of us can get Kakashi on our own, but maybe if we team up we can get the bells."

"Ow! What was that for Harmony?" He yelled at me from the ground. I laughed slightly and jumped down beside him.

"Well, I thought with you being an official genin now, you should at least know how to not land on your head. You did it just thirty seconds ago too." With a glare, Naruto looked at me, casing me to hit his head slightly to stop what he was going to say. "Okay so I am pretty sure you didn't hear anything I just said a minute ago, so I'll repeat it. Let's team up. If we do, we'll have a better chance of getting some bells from Kakashi."

Naruto just looked at me before shaking his head as he got up. "No thanks, I don't need any help. I will prove it to everyone that I can be hokage, and then get acceptance from them."

As he ran off in a random direction after that, I flicked my bangs away from my eye and sighed.

"So getting the bells is now a challenge of getting acceptance from the village. Kinda strange, but it makes sense on a weird level. And for a child that is a mix of Minato-sensei and Kushina, it fits." I smiled for a few seconds before I heard a scream off in the distance.

_'It's too soon to have taken down Sasuke. Must have been Sakura he got to first.'_ I took on in the direction I heard her scream. _'Damn it Fang. I know you're efficient, but you're going to fast for these three to comprehend what they need to do.'_

* * *

"Sasuke-kun... Sas... Sasuke..." Sakura was whimpering when I found her, curled up in the fetal position on the ground with tear tracks running down her cheeks. I wiped the wetness away and brushed a stray leaf from her hair. _'So Kakashi used a genjutsu on her. And I'm guessing it was quiet a cruel on.' _I held up the release hand sign and used my chakra to disrupt the jutsu, freeing her.

"SASUKE!"was the first thing she yelled out when she opened her yells and sat up. I knelt down and placed a hand on her shoulder to steady her when I saw her sway slightly.

"It's okay Sakura, Sasuke is not here. It was just a genjutsu Kakashi placed on you. It's alright."

"Wha-? Harmony? What's going on? Where are Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei?" she asked confused when she finally realised we were the only ones there.

"Neither one is here, just as you can see. Sasuke is most likely fighting again Kakashi right now. Look, we need to team up together if we want to have any change at getting the bells, and if we do-" I had to cut myself off before I swallowed a cloud of dirt, which Sakura created as she ran off to find her crush.

"God, when it comes to Sasuke, that girl sure can move," I muttered out loud to myself and to the one who was hiding in some tree teen feet. "And you should know that to successfully sneak up on someone, hiding your chakra should be the number one thing to do."

I heard Kakashi laugh as he jumped out of the tree he was in. "But where would all the fun be if I did that?" I turned and shrugged.

"I don't know, seems as much fun as fighting a team of genin over a bell, as it is right now. Don't you think you're going a little too hard on them?" I tried to joke, but the end fell flat when I looked him in the eyes. We stared at each other for a few seconds, not saying anything, before I had to look away.

"Has it really been thirteen years since we last saw each other?" I asked as I looked at the dirt. "Must have been hard on you, first losing a teammate and a childhood friend on a mission during the war, not knowing if I was dead or alive, and then loosing Obito in a brutal battle the same day. Losing two in the same day must have been torture, but loosing the last three, Rin and Minato, along with Kushina, and probably countless others, must have been hell."

"It was tough, I learned how to cope over the years. But I still go to the KIA stone never everyday I can. Did you know that they nearly put your name down on that stone the same day they put down Obito's? The only reason you're not was because no one saw you die. So on the file you've been labelled as M.A.I. But everyone thought that you had died that day."

A humourless laugh escaped me. "I'm almost glad that they didn't. So you know how much harder it would be trying to get used to life when your name in on the stone that honours the dead? And try telling people your name then! That would be just plain cruel."

"In a way yes, it would be." I looked back up at him and saw that he was smiling. And for some reason, that smile made my sad mood almost turn to anger. I brought my fist together and cracked my knuckles.

"You seem to be coping fine. Tell me, was this whole hundred-and-eighty-degree turn in personally a coping mechanism? Actually, you don't have to tell me, I'll find out for myself, as well as if anything else about you has changed, you closet-pervert."

After I said that I dropped my hands and took a run at him, only to be pined down in under ten seconds, with him on my back.

"Closet-pervert? Now that's mean. And don't be like Naruto, it's not like you to rush things and not take your time. If you didn't, then I would have time to give you back something I think you would like. It's something I found thirteen years ago." Kakashi got off me and reached for something in his back pockets.


End file.
